COMMENTARY 


ON  THE  ROMAN  CONSTITU- 
TION AND  ROMAN  PUBLIC 
LIFE  SUPPLEMENTED  BY 
THE    SAYINGS    OF    CICERO 


CICERO 
A  Sketch  of  His  Life  and  Works 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


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Cicero.     Capitoline  Museum,  Rome. 


CICERO 

A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


2L  commentary 


ON  THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  AND  ROMAN  PUBLIC  LIFE, 

SUPPLEMENTED    BY    THE    SAYINGS    OF    CICERO    ARRANGED 

FOR  THE  FIRST  TIME  AS  AN  ANTHOLOGY 


BY 

Hannis  Taylor 

Hon.  LL.D.  of  the  Universities  of  Edinburgh  and  Dublin  and  of 
the  Catholic  University  of  America. 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  SCIENCE  OF  JURISPRUDENCE"  (PRESENTED  TO  THE  INSTITUTE 
OF  FRANCE,  MARCH  13,  1909)  ;  "THE  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  THE  ENG- 
LISH CONSTITUTION/"  "THE  ORIGIN  AND  GROWTH  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
CONSTITUTION;"  "INTERNATIONAL  PUBLIC  LAW;"  "JURISDICTION  AND 
PROCEDURE  OF  THE  SUPREME  COURT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES."  SOME- 
TIME    MINISTER     PLENIPOTENTIARY     OF     THE     UNITED     STATES     TO     SPAIN 


Nostra  autem  respublica  non  unius  esset  ingenio,  sed  multorum,  nee 
una  hominis  vita,  sed  aliquot  constituta  seculis  et  aetatibus. 

— De  Republica,  ii,   1. 

Our  Roman  Constitution  was  not  the  product  of  the  genius  of  any 
one  man,  but  of  that  of  many;  it  was  not  evolved  in  any  one  lifetime, 
but  in  the  course  of  generations  and  centuries. 


CHICAGO 

A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 

1916 


Copyright 

A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co. 

1916 


Published  September,  1916 


Copyrighted  in  Great  Britain 


W     F.  HALL  PRINTING  COMPANY,  CHICAGO 


Kp ih  Bunt,  MM. 


PROFESSOR  OF  PHARMACOLOGY  IN  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 

THIS  BOOK  IS  INSCRIBED  BY  HIS  LOVING  FRIEND 

THE  AUTHOR 


344704 


PREFACE 

During  the  years  devoted  by  the  author  to  the  prep- 
aration of  The  Origin  and  Growth  of  the  English  Con- 
stitution, now  in  the  eighth  edition,  there  was  ever  pres- 
ent in  his  mind  the  hope  that  the  day  would  come  when 
he  would  be  able  to  draw  out,  upon  a  different  plan  and 
within  a  narrower  compass,  The  Origin  and  Growth  of 
the  Roman  Constitution  down  to  the  end  of  the  Re- 
publican Period  closed  by  Cicero's  death  in  December, 
43  b.  c. 

An  American  historian,  in  speaking  of  Daniel  Webster, 
has  said: 

Had  he  stood  in  the  market  place,  raised  an  arm,  and  frozen  into 
silence,  his  erect  figure  would  have  been  accepted  as  the  bronze 
ideal  of  a  statesman  and  defender  of  the  constitution.1 

In  a  much  more  emphatic  and  exclusive  sense  was 
Cicero  the  ideal  defender  of  the  Roman  Constitution; 
in  a  much  more  emphatic  and  exclusive  sense  was  he  the 
embodiment  of  the  departing  spirit  of  Roman  Repub- 
licanism. Certainly,  during  the  last  days  of  the  Repub- 
lic, during  his  duel  to  the  death  with  Octavian  and  An- 
tony, Cicero  could  say  without  exaggeration,  U  Stat  c'  est 
moil  "Beneath  every  shell  there  was  an  animal,  behind 
every  document  there  was  a  man."  And  so  behind 
Rome's  Republican  Constitution  there  was  in  its  last 
days  a  man  who,  as  the  holder,  in  the  cursus  honorum,  of 
every  great  office  in  the  state,  moved  every  part  of  its 
complicated  machinery;  who,  by  his  immortal  discourses 

1  James  Schouler,  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  Hi,  p.  301. 
vii 


Vlll 


PREFACE 

in  the  Forum,  on  the  Rostra,  and  in  the  Senate,  gave  ex- 
pression to  its  inner  spirit. 

As  a  dead  language  can  only  be  quickened  into  life  when 
we  hear  the  voices  of  those  by  whom  it  was  once  spoken, 
so  a  dead  constitution  can  only  be  quickened  into  life  when 
we  see  the  acts  and  hear  the  voices  of  those  by  whom  it 
was  kept  in  motion.  The  best  possible  commentary  upon 
the  Roman  Constitution  should  therefore  be  found  in  the 
acts  and  declarations  of  the  brilliant  and  devoted  citizen 
who  did  most  to  expound  it,  and  who  perished  in  a  vain 
effort  to  defend  it. 

With  that  assumption  as  its  thesis  this  book  will  at- 
tempt to  indicate  what  the  Roman  Republican  Constitu- 
tion really  was,  during  the  quarter  of  a  century  that  pre- 
ceded its  overthrow,  through  the  unfolding  of  the  history 
of  the  immortal  advocate,  statesman,  and  philosopher 
who  for  ages  has  stood  out  before  the  world  as  its  typical 
expounder  and  defender.  Never  before  or  since  was  the 
history  of  a  constitution  so  completely  embodied  in  the 
history  of  a  man  as  that  of  the  Roman  Republic  in  the 
life  of  Cicero  during  the  twenty-seven  years,  immediately 
preceding  his  death. 

With  the  announcement  made  at  the  close  of  his  famous 
speech  in  the  case  of  Verres  that  he  would  appear  no 
more  in  the  courts  as  a  prosecutor,  Cicero's  career  as  a 
statesman,  in  the  largest  sense  of  that  term,  really  began. 
The  twenty-seven  fateful  years  that  intervened  between 
that  time  and  his  assassination  by  the  Imperialists  are  so 
penetrated  and  illuminated  by  his  speeches  before  the 
courts,  the  Senate,  and  the  people;  by  his  priceless  let- 
ters, without  which  a  large  part  of  the  contemporary  his- 
tory would  be  a  blank;  by  his  writings  on  government, 
law,  and  theology,  and  above  all  by  his  acts  as  consul  in 


PREFACE  ix 

defending  the  state  when  Catiline  struck  at  its  heart  — 
that  the  life  of  Cicero  and  the  life  of  the  Republic,  dur- 
ing the  period  in  question,  are  an  indivisible  whole. 

Irrevocably  bound  by  his  deepest  convictions  to  the  an- 
cient popular  constitution,  perishing  under  the  weight  of 
its  own  success,  we  see  him  gradually  sinking  with  it  until 
he  disappears  beneath  the  horizon,  touched  by  the  light 
of  its  dying  glory.  All  that  was  mortal  of  the  most  gifted 
son  of  ancient  Italy  went  down  in  the  wreck  of  the  Ro- 
man Republic,  but  his  immortal  part  survived  as  that  of 
no  other  human  being  of  his  age  has  survived,  because 
he  was  the  most  intellectual,  the  most  spiritual,  the  least 
brutal,  and  above  all  the  most  deeply  imbued  with  the 
instinct  of  immortality,  embodied  in  the  conviction — to 
use  his  own  words: 

The  mind  is  the  man,  and  not  the  figure  which  can  be  pointed 
at  with  the  finger.  Know,  therefore,  that  thou  art  a  divine  being 
since  it  is  a  deity  in  thee  which  moves,  feels,  remembers,  foresees, 
rules,  and  governs  that  body,  over  which  it  is  placed,  in  the  very 
same  way  as  the  Supreme  Being  governs  this  world.2 

Nothing  is  more  remarkable  concerning  the  public 
life  of  Rome,  when  we  consider  it  in  its  fullness  as  a 
stage  upon  which  both  advocates  and  statesmen  could 
find  opportunities  for  the  unrestrained  exercise  of  their 
powers,  than  the  shortness  of  its  duration.  The  great 
days  of  the  Roman  bar  must  really  be  measured  by  the 
professional  lives  of  Hortensius  and  Cicero.  The  mag- 
nificent professional  rewards  they  received  had  never 
been  enjoyed  by  any  of  their  predecessors;  and  after 
Cicero's  death,  which  synchronized  with  the  fall  of  the 
Republic,  there  were  no  longer  free  popular  assemblies, 
or  popular  courts  such  as  those  before  which  he  had 
won  renown. 

2  Cicero,  De  Republica,  vi,  24. 


PREFACE 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  most  brilliant  era 
of  Roman  public  life  was  ushered  in  by  Cicero  and  closed 
by  his  death  —  he  stood  at  its  cradle  and  he  followed  its 
hearse.  In  his  life  its  history  is  epitomized  at  its  best. 
The  history  of  that  public  life,  forensic  and  tribunitian, 
should  appeal  with  peculiar  force  to  every  American  law- 
yer and  statesman,  embodying,  as  it  does,  a  record  of 
conditions  so  nearly  identical  with  our  own.  It  is  im- 
possible to  contemplate  the  career  of  Cicero  as  an  advo- 
cate, as  a  statesman,  as  a  writer  on  the  twin  sciences  of 
government  and  law,  without  being  deeply  impressed  by 
the  close  resemblance  between  Roman  public  life  as  it 
existed  in  his  time  and  American  public  life  as  it  exists 
today. 

When  the  foremost  orator  of  the  Roman  Republic, 
after  having  won  the  leadership  of  the  Roman  bar,  made 
his  way  into  politics,  becoming  first  a  judge,  then  a  sen- 
ator, and  finally  an  expounder  of  the  theories  of  the  twin 
sciences  with  which  his  public  life  had  connected  him,  he 
blazed  the  path  and  created  the  models  which  have 
guided  all  American  lawyers  and  statesmen  who  have  at- 
tained to  eminence  through  their  discourses  in  the  courts, 
before  the  people,  or  in  deliberative  assemblies.  Ferrero 
made  no  mistake  when  he  said: 

In  many  matters  the  United  States  is  nearer  than  Europe  to 
Ancient  Rome.  First  of  all,  it  is  a  republic,  as  Rome  was,  while 
almost  all  of  the  European  states  are  monarchies.  That  differ- 
ence is  probably  a  good  deal  more  important  than  is  generally 
believed.  Further,  while  all  the  states  of  Europe  are  bureaucratic, 
the  United  States,  like  Rome,  has  an  elective  administration. 
Many  public  functions,  which  in  Europe  are  confined  to  a  profes- 
sional bureaucracy,  are  exercised  in  America,  as  they  were  in  Rome, 
by  officers  elected  by  the  people.  Now,  one  of  the  greatest 
obstacles  a  European  finds  to  understanding  the  history  of  Rome 


PREFACE  xi 

lies  in  the  fact  that,  because  he  is  accustomed  to  see  states  gov- 
erned by  pure  bureaucracy,  he  finds  it  hard  to  imagine  a  state 
whose  offices  are  almost  all  elective.  This  difficulty  does  not  exist 
in  the  United  States.  An  American  understands  easily  the  work- 
ing of  the  old  Roman  State  because  he  is  a  citizen  of  a  state  based 
on  the  same  principle.3 

The  author  hopes,  however,  that  the  sketch  of  the  life 
and  works  of  Cicero  as  unfolded  herein  will  appeal  to  a 
far  wider  audience  than  that  composed  of  lawyers  and 
statesmen;  he  hopes  that  it  will  commend  itself  to  all 
thinkers  who  are  interested  in  the  marvelous  process 
through  which  the  best  and  highest  thought  of  Greece  and 
the  Orient,  after  being  digested  and  re-stated  by  the  great 
Roman  philosopher,  was  passed  on  through  him  as  a 
conduit  between  the  Hellenized  East  and  barbarous 
Europe. 

The  sustained  and  majestic  splendor  with  which  Cicero 
robed  his  thoughts  has  made  his  works  models  of  style 
for  all  time.  Quintilian  tells  us  that  Livy  said  that  he 
would  be  the  best  writer  of  Latin  prose  who  was  most 
like  to  Cicero;  and  his  ardent  admirer,  Gibbon,4  who  de- 
clared that  "the  jurisprudence  of  his  country  was  adorned 
by  his  incomparable  genius  which  converts  into  gold 
every  object  that  it  touches,"  has  paid  a  tribute  higher 
still  through  the  ceaseless,  nay,  almost  monotonous  flow 
of  Ciceronian  rhythm  that  pervades  his  prose;  while 
Cardinal  Newman  has  certified  over  his  own  hand  that — 

....  as  to  patterns  for  imitation,  the  only  master  of  style  I  have 
ever  had  (which  is  strange  considering  the  differences  of  the  lan- 
guages) is  Cicero.  I  think  I  owe  a  great  deal  to  him,  and,  as  far 
as  I  know,  to  no  one  else.5 

3  Ferrero,  Greatness  and  Decline  of  Rome,  preface  to  Amer.  Ed.,  iv. 

4  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  iv,  p.  457. 
B  Newman,  Letters  and  Correspondence,  ii,  pp.  426-427. 


PREFACE 

And  yet,  after  every  gift,  every  achievement  in  the  bril- 
liant and  tragic  life  of  the  great  Roman  has  been  esti- 
mated at  its  full  value,  the  fact  remains  that  the  supreme 
importance  of  his  career  to  the  modern  world  is  em- 
bodied in  his  intellectual  leadership  of  the  spiritual  and 
ethical  revolution  which  prepared  the  people  of  the  Med- 
iterranean Basin  for  the  advent  of  Christianity.  No  mat- 
ter whether  the  tidal  wave  of  new  thought,  known  as 
Stoicism,  that  rolled  from  the  Orient  to  Athens  and  from 
Athens  to  Rome,  was  a  world-philosophy  or  a  world- 
religion,  it  swept  away  the  barriers  between  nation  and 
nation  through  the  creation  of  a  cosmopolis  or  ideal 
world-state  governed  not  by  local  codes,  but  by  perma- 
nent, uniform,  and  universal  law  flowing  from  a  single 
God  who  is  Lord  and  Father  — 

....  a  Supreme  Deity,  who  governs  the  world  with  boundless 
power  and  benevolent  will,  and  is  manifested  to  men  as  the  Logos, 
or  "divine  Word."  6 

By  means  of  that  magnificent  notion  of  a  single  God  as 
the  source  of  natural  law,  Stoicism  wrecked  Pantheism, 
in  substance  if  not  in  form,  and  thus  opened  the  way  for 
a  new  conception  of  the  destiny  of  man  as  a  member  of 
a  world-wide  society  in  which  all  distinctions  of  race,  caste 
and  class  were  to  be  subordinated  to  the  fatherhood  of 
God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  In  the  De  Finibus 
Cicero  says: 

There  is  nothing  so  eminent,  nor  so  extensive  in  its  operation,  as 
that  brotherhood  between  men,  that  agreement  as  to  what  may  be 
useful  to  all,  and  that  general  love  for  the  human  race.7 

6  E.  V.  Arnold,  Roman  Stoicism,  pp.  17,  274,  281. 

7  Cicero,  De  Finibus,  v.  23. 


PREFACE  xiii 

Less  than  a  century  and  a  half  before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  the  new  philosophy  of  inward  defense  and  defi- 
ance—  "The  earliest  offspring  of  the  religious  conscious- 
ness of  the  East  and  the  intellectual  culture  of  the  West"8 
—  took  sudden  possession  of  all  the  higher  classes  at 
Rome,  including  the  jurists,  who  were  completely  en- 
thralled by  it.  That  event  became  a  turning  point  in  the 
juristic  history  of  the  world  because,  just  at  the  moment 
when  it  became  necessary  to  extend  the  local  code  of  a 
city-state  over  a  growing  empire  that  aspired  to  universal 
dominion,  the  Stoic  philosophers  armed  the  Roman  juris- 
consults with  their  unique  invention  of  a  law  of  nature, 
"proceeding  from  Zeus  and  the  common  nature,"  which, 
as  the  law  of  the  Stoic  world-state  embracing  all  mankind, 
was  necessarily  universal.  Out  of  the  fusion  of  the  Stoic 
theory  of  a  natural  and  universal  law  with  the  common 
roots  extracted  by  the  praetor  peregrinns  from  the  local 
codes  of  all  the  states  with  which  Rome  was  then  in  con- 
tact arose  the  jus  gentium  —  the  law  common  to  all  na- 
tions—  by  whose  broad  concepts  the  strict  and  archaic 
code  of  Rome  was  largely  superseded.  At  last  it  could 
be  said:  "Roman  law  was  finished;  the  local  law  of  a 
city  had  passed  into  a  law  available  for  the  world  in  gen- 
eral."9 Before  the  fall  of  the  Republic  the  jus  gentium 
had  assumed  definite  form;  and  upon  Cicero  —  the  great 
interpreter,  the  master  of  expression,  the  author  of  the 
first  philosophic  treatises  in  the  Latin  tongue  —  naturally 
devolved  the  duty  of  defining  it.  With  his  mind  radiant 
with  the  new  Stoic  conception  of  a  single,  law-creating 
God  he  was  the  very  first  to  announce  to  the  world  the 
fact  that  the  jus  gentium  was  — 

8  J.   B.  Lightfoot,  Philippians,  p.  274. 

9  Rudolph  Sohm,  Institutes,  p.  86. 


xiv  PREFACE 

....  not  to  be  one  law  for  Rome,  another  law  for  Athens,  one 
law  today  and  another  law  tomorrow;  but  one  eternal  and  immu- 
table law  for  all  nations,  and  for  all  ages,  as  God  the  common 
master  and  ruler  of  all  —  the  discoverer,  the  interpreter,  the  enactor 
of  the  law  —  is  one.10 

With  all  the  faithfulness  with  which  Cicero  reproduced 
the  Stoic  conception  of  a  law  of  nature,  he  reproduced 
the  Stoic  conception  of  ethics  by  which  in  his  later  years 
he  was  completely  mastered  and  overcome.  The  fact  is 
that  the  one  was  the  corollary  of  the  other.  Stoic  ethics 
rested  primarily  not  on  the  needs  of  the  individual,  but 
on  the  demands  of  the  supreme  law,  the  "universal  law, 
bidding  us  to  do  this  and  refrain  from  that."  The  ulti- 
mate end  of  Stoicism,  justly  called  the  bridge  between 
ancient  and  modern  philosophical  thought,  was  to  create 
a  good  citizen,  with  a  high-thoughted  soul,  who,  guided 
by  the  examples  of  wise  men,  could  rise  above  nationalism, 
antiquity,  custom,  pride,  and  prejudice,  into  the  realm  of 
universal  reason  and  individual  liberty. 

As  we  shall  see  hereafter,  that  lofty  ideal  of  a  good 
citizen  was  the  weapon  Cicero  seized  upon^when,  with 
the  zeal  of  an  enthusiast  and  the  power  of  a  Titan,  he 
essayed  the  impossible  task  of  saving  the  Roman  Repub- 
lic through  a  social,  moral,  and  political  regeneration 
of  the  governing  classes  of  Roman  society.  The  first 
appeal  made  in  the  De  Republica  culminated  in  "Scipio's 
Dream,"  in  which  the  good  citizen  is  told  that  — 

....  to  defend  the  state  with  the  greater  cheerfulness,  be  assured 
that  for  all  those  who  have  in  any  way  conduced  to  the  preserva- 
tion, defense,  and  enlargement  of  their  native  country,  there  is 
certainly  a  place  in  heaven,  where  the  blessed  shall  enjoy  eternal 
life. 1X 

WDe  Repub.,  Hi,  zz.  ^  Ibid.,  vi,  13. 


■*v 


PREFACE  xv 

As  further  elaborations  of  that  civic  gospel,  followed 
the  De  Finibus,  on  the  ultimate  foundation  of  ethics;  the 
De  Officiis,  a  treatise  on  practical  ethics,  called  by  Fred- 
erick the  Great  "the  best  work  on  morals  that  has  ever 
been  or  can  be  written" ;  and  the  Tusculanae  Disputa- 
tiones,  on  incidental  questions  concerning  ethics,  in  which 
are  re-examined  the  problems  propounded  in  the  De  Re- 
publica  from  a  moral  and  social,  rather  than  from  a 
political  point  of  view.  Thus  it  appears  that  these  death- 
less compositions  upon  the  subjects  of  ethics  and  politics 
that  still  stir  and  guide  the  world  were  not  fabricated  as 
abstract  speculations  by  an  isolated  thinker  in  "the  un- 
vexed  silence  of  a  student's  cell,"  but  by  a  practical  states- 
man and  ardent  patriot  who,  in  the  presence  of  a  rapidly 
approaching  crisis,  was  striving  to  save  from  wreck 
and  ruin  an  ancient  popular  constitution  whose  life  de- 
pended absolutely  upon  the  virtue  and  patriotism  of  its 
citizens. 

In  his  efforts  to  arouse  his  countrymen  to  a  nobler 
sense  of  civic  duty  and  patriotism,  Cicero  did  not  hesitate 
to  offer,  without  reserve,  rewards  in  a  higher  life  beyond 
the  grave.  Armed  with  the  new  Stoic  conception  of  a 
single,  law-creating  God,  and  with  that  logic  in  which  the 
Stoics  so  excelled,  he  undertook  to  re-define  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  and  a  conscious  personal  existence  after 
death,  in  a  civic  heaven,  if  you  please,  with  a  distinctness 
and  convincing  power  which  a  pantheistic  philosopher 
like  Plato,  not  so  armed,  had  never  been  able  to  impart 
to  such  thoughts. 

In  one  place  he  writes: 

Therefore,  for  many  other  reasons,  the  souls  of  the  good  appear 
to  me  to  be  divine  and  eternal,  but  chiefly  on  this  account,  because 


xvi  PREFACE 

the  soul  of  the  best  and  wisest  has  such  anticipation  of  a  future 
state  of  being,  that  it  seems  to  center  its  thoughts  only  on  eternity.12 

In  another: 

For  we  have  not  been  framed  or  created  without  design  nor  by 
chance,  but  there  has  been  truly  some  certain  power,  which  had  in 
view  the  happiness  of  mankind,  neither  producing  nor  maintaining 
a  being,  which,  when  it  had  completed  all  its  labors,  should  then 
sink  into  eternal  misery  of  death ;  rather  let  us  think  that  there  is  a 
haven  and  refuge  prepared  for  us.13 

In  still  another: 

Death  is  no  annihilation,  carrying  off  and  blotting  out  every- 
thing, but  rather,  if  I  may  so  describe  it,  a  change  of  abode,  and 
an  alteration  in  our  manner  of  life.14 

Finally,  he  declares: 

I  have  often  read  and  heard  that  there  is  nothing  evil  in  death ; 
for,  if  there  is  a  survival  of  consciousness,  it  must  be  considered 
immortality  rather  than  death ;  while  if  consciousness  is  destroyed, 
that  can  hardly  be  reckoned  unhappiness,  of  which  we  are  uncon- 
scious.15 ....  There  is  certainly  a  place  in  heaven  where  the 
blessed  shall  enjoy  eternal  life.16 

Endowed  with  an  introspective  mind  capable  of  dram- 
atizing thoughts  that  live  and  move  as  immortalities  in 
the  realm  of  the  unseen,  Cicero,  during  the  closing  years  of 
his  life,  answered  the  question  of  questions,  "If  a  man  die, 
shall  he  live  again  ?"  with  a  vividness  and  convincing  power 
never  equalled  before,  and  never  surpassed  by  mortal  man 
until  the  New  Revelation  spoke  through  the  inspired  lips 

12  Cicero,  Pro  C.  Rabirio  PerdueUioms,  xo. 

13  Cicero,  Tusculanae  Disputationes,  i,  49. 
™Ibid.,  i,  12. 

15  Cicero,  Ad  Familiares,  v,  16. 

16  De  Repub.,  vi,  13:  "Certum  esse  in  caelo  definitum  locum,  ubi  beati 
aevo  sempiterno  fruantur." 


PREFACE  xvii 

of  St.  Paul.  The  transcendent  geniuses,  the  deathless 
orators  of  a  marvelous  epoch  were  Cicero  and  St.  Paul. 
Is  it  therefore  strange  that  the  early  Christian  fathers 
who  gave  scientific  form  and  logical  consistency  to  Chris- 
tian theology  and  ethics  should  have  embraced  with  an 
enraptured  tenderness  the  "Pagan  Christian"  who  had 
been  illumined  by  the  first  premonitory  rays  that  fell 
from  the  rising  Light  of  the  World?  Beginning  with 
Minutius  Felix  and  Lactantius,  the  tide  of  Ciceronian  in- 
fluence upon  Christian  thought,  which  Tertullian  strove 
in  vain  to  check,  flowed  steadily  on  until  it  reached  its 
high-water  mark  in  the  writings  of  St.  Ambrose,  St. 
Jerome,  and  St.  Augustine.  The  first  named,  the  famous 
bishop  of  Milan,  clearly  perceiving  that  in  the  new  Chris- 
tian literature  there  was  an  utter  lack  of  a  complete  and 
harmonious  system  of  Christian  ethics,  undertook  to  sup- 
ply it  in  his  De  Officiis  Ministrorum,  modeled  without  dis- 
guise upon  Cicero's  De  Officiis.  The  second  so  far  lost 
himself  in  the  study  of  his  favorite  author  that,  as  he 
tells  us  himself,  Christ  came  to  him  in  a  dream,  during  a 
critical  illness  at  Antioch,  and  reproached  him  because 
he  was  more  of  a  Ciceronian  than  a  Christian.  The  third, 
who  occupies  a  theological  position  really  unrivalled  — 
as  no  single  name  has  ever  possessed  such  power  over 
the  Christian  church,  as  no  single  mind  has  ever  made 
such  a  profound  impression  upon  Christian  thought  as 
that  of  St.  Augustine  —  went  so  far  as  to  attribute  the 
beginning  of  his  conversion  to  Christianity  to  the  study 
of  Cicero's  Hortensius.  In  the  history  of  the  transmuta- 
tion of  human  thought  few  things  are  more  imposing 
than  the  meeting  of  the  mind  of  the  last  and  greatest 
philosopher  of  pagan  Rome  with  that  of  the  first  really 
great  philosopher  of  the  Latin  church. 


xviii  PREFACE 

Cicero's  leading  works  found  a  prominent  place  in 
nearly  all  of  the  early  Christian  monastic  libraries;  and 
when  the  treasure  house  of  ancient  thought  the  Middle 
Ages  had  guarded  was  reopened  at  the  dawn  of  the 
Italian  Renaissance,  we  find  him  the  literary  idol  of 
Petrarch  who,  when  strangers  crowded  around  him,  ask- 
ing what  presents  they  could  send  him  from  distant  lands, 
invariably  answered:  "Nothing  but  the  works  of  Cicero." 
In  referring  to  those  works,  Petrarch  said:  "You  would 
fancy  sometimes  it  was  not  a  pagan  philosopher,  but  a 
Christian  Apostle,  who  was  speaking" ;  and  Anthony 
Trollope  has  declared  that  — 

....  had  he  lived  a  hundred  years  later  I  should  have  suspected 

him  of  some  hidden  knowledge  of  Christ's  teachings This 

pagan  had  his  ideas  of  God's  governance  of  men,  and  of  man's 
required  obedience  to  God,  so  specially  implanted  in  his  heart 
that  he  who  undertakes  to  write  his  life  should  not  pass  it  by 
unnoticed.17 

In  the  light  of  such  a  record,  who  can  doubt  that  the 
persistency  of  Cicero's  intellectual  influence  through  the 
centuries  has  depended  largely  upon  its  spiritual  and  eth- 
ical undertone  which  influenced  so  profoundly  the  thought 
of  the  early  Christian  church? 

17  Trollope,  Life  of  Cicero,  ii,  pp.  322-324. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

PAGE 

Twenty  centuries   of   fame   and   influence;    Cicero,   "the   herald   of  i 

antiquity."        I 

His  works  the  unpremeditated   outcome  of  his  career;   the  Forum  2 
as  a  popular  university;  Tyrrell's  brilliant  tribute;  great  days  of 

Cicero  and  Hortensius.         3 

Cicero  as  a  moral  teacher;  De  Republica;  De  Legibus;  De  Finibus;  3 
Tusculanae    Disputationes ;    De    Officii*;    their    author    does    not 

belong  to  the  "classicists." 4 

Cicero's  relation  to  Stoicism;   ideal  world-state;   God  as  source  of  5 

natural  law;  fatherhood  of  God  and  brotherhood  of  man.     ...  5 

Stoic  ideal  of  a  good  citizen;  rewards  in  a  life  beyond  the  grave;  6 

definitions  of  immortality 6 

Cicero's  influence  on  the  early  Christian  church ;  St.  Paul,  Chrysip-  7 
pus  and  Aratus;  St.  Paul's  "Stoic  ways  of  thinking,"  Pantaenus, 
Clemens,  and  Origenes ;  Minucius  Felix;  Lactantius;  Tertullian; 
St.  Ambrose's  Christian  ethics;  St.  Jerome's  dream;  St.  Augus- 
tine; influence  of  Hortensius;  contained  everything  but  name  of 
Christ;  Soliloquies;  The  City  of  God;  analysis  of  third  book  of 

De  Republica;  Stoic  ethics  as  substructure  of  Christian  ethics.     .  13 

Stoic   influence   on    Roman    law 13 

Number   and   scope    of    Cicero's   extant  works;    inaccessible   to   the  14 

many;  Ruskin's  comment  on  books  made  for  all  time 15 

Beneath  every  document  there  was  a   man;   Cicero,  "the   pen  and  15 

mirror  of   a   great  transition." 16 

Cicero  as  a  wit;  his  charge  against  Volumnius;  collection  of  witti-  17 
cisms  circulated  after  his  death;  inventor  of  a  philosophical  ter- 
minology;    his     invaluable     correspondence;     necessity     for     an 

anthology 19 

CHAPTER  II 

STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW 

Failure  of  the  Greeks  to  produce   a   philosophy  of  law;  jurispru-  21 

dence   a   Roman   creation 21 

Roman   law  as  a  factor   in  civilization ;   as  an  element  in  English  22 

law;   Grotius  and  the  jus  gentium;  Cicero  and  the  jus  gentium.  23 

City-state  as  defined  by  Aristotle ;  class  of  codes  to  which   Twelve  23 

Tables   belonged 24 

xix 


xx  CONTENTS 

PACE 

Rome  as  a  commercial  metropolis;  the  praetor  peregrinus;  jus  gen-      24 
tium  the  product  of  Comparative  Law;  theory  of  natural  law  a 
Stoic    invention 26 

Zenith  of   Greek  philosophy  in   Plato  and  Aristotle;   decline  after       27 
the  loss  of  political  freedom;  creation  of  large  empires.     ...  27 

Conquests  of  Alexander;  effect  of  political  and  geographical  changes       28 
on  philosophic  thought;   philosophy  takes   the   place  of   religion; 
mingling  of  Greek  and  Oriental  modes  of  thought 29 

Zeno  the  founder  of  Stoicism;   characteristics  of  the  system;  mag-       29 
nificent   notion   of   a   single    God;    Stoic   state   a   cosmopolis;    the 
universal    law 31 

Chrysippus,  the  second  founder;  Cicero's  statement;  Diogenes  Laer-       32 
tius   chief   authority   for   Stoic    doctrine;    universal    law   defined; 
a  notable  statement  from  Prof.  Murray;  Cicero  and  Stoic  ethics; 
summary  by  Laertius;   a   place   left  for  nationalism;   ideal  of  a 
good    citizen 35 

Founding  of   Roman    Stoicism;    Crates,    159   B.C.;    embassy   of    155       36 
B.C.;    Panaetius   and   Scipio;   Laelius;    "humane"   movement   and 
Graccan     reforms;     the    Scaevolas;     Lucilius;     Panaetius     a     re- 
former; influence  of  Stoicism  on  Cicero;   its  influence  on  Roman 
law;    Cato;   Brutus 40 

Making  of  the  jus  gentium;  Cicero  the  first  to  describe  it;  Sohm's       40 
statement;  praetorian  edict  engine  of  law  reform;  Cicero's  famous 
definition 43 

Blending    of   jus    gentium    and    law    of    nature    through    aequitas ;      43 
Maine's    statement;    tribute    of    Renan 44 

CHAPTER  III 

CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE 

Born  on  the  farm  at  Arpinum  January  3,  106  B.  c. ;  paternal  grand-  46 

father;  father;  mother  Helvia 47 

Town  of  Arpinum  and  family  name;   Cicero  scorned  all  false  pre-  47 

tense;   described  his  cradle  spot;  a  man  has  two  countries.     .     .  48 

The  town  house  in  the  Carinae;  pupil  of  the  poet  Archias  probably  49 

before  88-87  B.C.;  brilliant  as  a  youth 49 

Friendly    interest    of    Antonius    and    Crassus ;    edict    against    Latin  50 

rhetoricians,  92  B.C.;  explained  in  De  Oratore 51 

Cicero's  contempt  for  the  Epicureans;  his  relations  with  the  Acad-  51 
emy;  Plato;  Aristotle;  five  Academic  schools;  Cicero's  eulogy  of 
the    old    Academy;    Polemo;    Arcesilaus;    Carneades;    views    of 

Cardinal    Newman 54 

Philo  the  teacher  of  Cicero;  claimed  that  Carneades  had  been  mis-  54 

understood;  his  maxims;  the  Stoic  Diodotus;  made  Cicero  his  heir.  56 

The  tour  abroad,  79-78  B.C.;  Athens;  Antiochus  of  Askalon;  Cicero's  56 
description  of  the  place  of  the  Academy;  Antiochus'  diluted  Stoic- 
ism;   a   passage   from   the  Academica 58 


CONTENTS  xxi 

PAGE 

Cicero  the  advocate,  an  eclectic;  Antiochus  an  eclectic;   Cicero  the       59 
philosopher  a  Stoic,  without  a  formal  announcement  of  the  fact; 
passages  from  the  De  Legibus;  Professor  Sihler's  statement.     .     .       62 

Cicero's  mind  finally  enveloped  by  Stoicism;  the  voice  of  Chrysip-  62 
pus;  Scipio's  dream;  vision  of  Er;  neither  dream  nor  vision  to  be 
considered  in  isolation ;  one  supreme  God ;  little  gods  as  personi- 
fications of  physical  forces;  Cicero's  definitions  of  immortality; 
advanced  beyond  Plato  by  the  aid  of  Stoicism;  early  Christian 
fathers    and    Petrarch.      . 67 

From  Athens  to  Asia;  description  of  his  tour;  Antiochus  and  Deme-       67 
trius;  Asiatic  rhetoricians;  Molo  of  Rhodes 68 

Posidonius;   Greek   Memoir  on   Cicero's  consulate;   visit  to  Delphi.       69 

CHAPTER  IV 

THE    ROMAN   BAR   IN    CICERO'S   TIME 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  Cicero  assumed  the  toga  virilis;  presented  by  70 

his  father  to  Scaevola  the  augur 70 

Family  of  the  Mucii  and  gratuitous  law  teaching;  the  open  house  70 
of  the  jurisconsult;   duties  of  a  law  student;   tribute  to  Quintus 
Mucius  in  the  De  Oratore;  Twelve  Tables  superseded  by  the  edict 

in    law   teaching 72 

Scaevola  the  pontifex  maximus;   father  of  Roman  law  because   its  72 
first  codifier;  declared  dishonorable  contracts  invalid;  his  contri- 
bution to  legal  science;   edict  of  the  praetor  an   engine  of  legal 

reform 73 

Cicero's   resolve  to   win   senatorial  dignity;   Roman  bar   as  a  step-  74 
ping-stone;   the   Forum   Romanum   or   Magnum;  forensic   discus- 
sions a  kind  of  fete;   Forum  a  great  popular  university.     ...  76 

Advocate,  robed  in  his  toga,  attended  by  a  jurisconsult  and  secre-  76 
tary;  curule  chair  of  the  praetor;  the  judices  in  criminal  cases; 
no  official  prosecutor;  formal  divisions  of  an  oration;  artifices  to 
excite   sympathy;   trials   of  Aquilius  and   Galba;   congratulations 

and    applause    of    advocate 78 

Stenographic  reporters;  such  reports  first  made  during  Cicero's  con-  79 

sulship;  his  carefully  revised  speech  for  Milo 80 

Villas    of   Hortensius   and    Cicero;    Hortensius   as   an    epicure    and  80 
arbiter  of  fashion;  enormous  compensation  despite  the  Lex  Cincia; 

Cicero's  estimate  of  Cotta  and  Hortensius 81 

Necessity  for  culture;  Cicero's  training  in  philosophy;   a  soldier  in  82 

the  Italian  war;  first  contact  with  Pompey  the  Great 84 

All  courts  closed  except  Commission  for  High  Treason;  great  advo-  84 

cates   away  with   the   army 84 

Social,  transformed  into  a  civil  war;   Sulla's  return  from  the  East  85 
in  83  B.C.;   death  of  Scaevola  the  pontifex;   Sulla's  dictatorship, 

82  B.C.;  Cicero  began  his  forensic  career  in  his  twenty-fifth  year.  86 


xxii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  V 

THE    ROMAN    CONSTITUTION 

PAGE 

System  of  government  with  which  Cicero  had  to  deal 87 

Roman  constitution  in  the  regal  period ;  Rome  as  a  city-state ;  prod-       87 
uct  of  a  process  of  federation;   curia  the  keystone;   members  of 
the  curiae  constituted  the  populus  Romanus 88 

Rex  as  ruler  of  united  people;  origin  of  Roman  Senate;  appointment       89 
of  an  interrex 90 

The  popular   assembly  comitia  curiata;  voting  curiatim 90 

Struggle    of    plebeians    for    political    and    legal    equality;    advance       90 
toward  equality  hastened  by  Servian  reforms;  new  tribes  invented 
for  benefit  of  plebs;  wealth  primary  basis  of  classification;  regis- 
tration  a   religious  function 93 

The  comitia  centuriata;  growth  of  its  jurisdiction;   supersedes  the       93 
comitia  curiata;  merely  a  survival  in  Cicero's  time 94 

Criminal  jurisdiction  originally  vested  in  king;  boundary  between       95 
criminal    and   civil   jurisdiction   faintly   defined;    questiones    per- 
petuae;  each  standing  commission   established  by  a   special   law.       96 

Procedure  in  civil  cases;  trial  by  battle;  college  of  pontiffs;  a  sacred       96 
element   necessary;    Servian   reforms;    popular   courts   substituted 
for   king   and    pontiffs 97 

Habit  of  intrusting  judicial  office  to  private  citizen;  transition  from       98 
kings  to  consuls;  annually  appointed  quaestors;  Senate  a  strong- 
hold   of   patrician    influence;    consuls    as    guardians    of   criminal 
code;  patrician  power  limited  by  tribunes 100 

Elected  by  an  assembly  of  the  plebs ;  resolutions  of  plebs  made  laws     101 
in  287  B.C.;  aediles  as  assistants  of  tribunes;  making  of  the  code 
of   the    Twelve    Tables;   published    by   the   consuls   of   448   b.  c.  ; 
praetor  urbanus,  367  B.C.;  administered  local  law;  praetor  pere- 
grinus   242  B.C.;   jus  gentium;   censor  and  his  duties 103 

Regimen  Morum;  constitution  of  city-state  in  second  half  of  fifth  104 
century  b.  c. ;  sovereign  powers  of  the  state  vested  In  a  primary 
assembly;  the  veto  power;  vote  of  assembly  final  and  supreme; 
bills  not  amendable;  Senate  functions  advisory  and  administra- 
tive; lex  Hortensia,  287  B.  C. ;  sovereign  powers  gradually  usurped 
by  the   Senate 106 

Why  the  archaic  democratic  machine  collapsed;    Senate   a   perma-     107 
nent   council    of   state;    the    land    question;    great   estates;    slave 
labor;  two  stages  of  disintegration;  origin  of  Roman  imperialism; 
expansion  drew  the  line  between   optimates   and  populares.     .     .     108 

Tiberius    Gracchus    first   champion    of    proletariat;    his    scheme   of     109 
reform;  made  tribune  in  133  B.C.;  his  illegal  acts  brought  about 
his  death;   land  commission;    Caius   Gracchus  tribune,   123  B.C.; 


CONTENTS  xxiii 

PAGE 
Cicero's  sketch  of  him;  his  scheme  of  reform;  poor  relief;  estab- 
lished citizen  colony ;  extension  of  Roman  citizenship ;  premature 
vision  of  an  Italian  nation;  Caius'  violent  death;  revival  of  the 
popular  cause  under  Marius;  chosen  tribune,  120  B.C.;  consul  in 
107  B.C.;  married  the  aunt  of  Caesar;  Marius  remodeled  the 
army;  drew  professional  soldiers  from  the  poor;  made  Gaul  a 
Roman    province 115 

Social  or   Italian  War;   Drusus   elected   tribune,   91   B.C.;   his  pro-     115 
posals;    his    assassination    precipitated    the    conflict;    number    of 
burgesses  more  than  doubled ;  death  grapple  between  Marius  and 
Sulla;    all    regular    government    suspended;    head    of    a    consul 
exposed  on  the  Rostra;   execution  of  the  pontifex  maximus.     .     .     117 

Sulla  leader  of  reactionaries,  82  B.C.;  Pompey  the  Great;  Crassus;     118 
Catiline;  Sulla  appointed  dictator;  his  proscription;  young  Caius 
Julius  in  danger;  Italian  emancipation  accepted  by  Sulla;  Sulla's 
constitution 119 

Increased    powers   of   Senate    reduced   those   of   tribunate;    tribune     120 
ineligible  to   reelection;   senatorial   guard   provided;   no  measure 
to  be  presented  by  a  tribune  without  senatorial  assent;  no  consul 
to    succeed    himself;    praetors    increased    to    eight;    quaestors    to 
twenty 121 

Control  of  criminal  justice  restored  to  Senate;  Cicero's  tribute  to  the     122 
equities;  assembly  shorn  of  legislative  power;  abdication  of  Sulla, 
79  B.C.;  all  he  left  behind  him  was  a  new  type  of  military  despot; 
Greenidge's    summary.      .     .         123 


CHAPTER  VI 

CICERO  AS   LEADER  OF  THE   ROMAN   BAR 

Defense  of  Publius  Quinctius,  Cicero's  first  recorded  case;  formula     125 
and  judex;  jurisconsults  as  intellectual  guides;  responsa  pruden- 
tium;  induced  to  appear  by  the  actor  Roscius;  Hortensius;  extracts 
from    Cicero's    speech 127 

Roman  criminal  courts;  duumviri  perduellionis  and  quaestor es  par-     127 
ricidii;  questiones  perpetuae;  foundations  of  Roman  criminal  law 
laid   in   149  B.C.;   personnel  of  the   permanent  commissions.     .     .     128 

Cicero's    defense    of    Roscius    of    Ameria ;     Chrysogonus,    favorite     129 
freedman  of   Sulla;   hireling  separated  from  the  master;   awoke 
and   found    himself    famous 130 

First  two  cases  important  because  they  illustrate  both  civil  and  crim-     131 
inal    procedure;    catalogue    of    speeches    before    the    courts;    pro 
P.  Quinctio,  81  b.  c. ;  pro  Roscio  Amerino,  80  b.  c. ;  pro  Roscio 
Comoedo,  76  (?)  B.  C. ;  pro  M.  Tullio,  72  (or  71)  b.  c. ;  in  Caeci- 
lium,  70  b.  c. ;  in  C.  V  err  em,  six  orations,  70  B.  c. ;  pro  M.  Fonteio, 


xxiv  CONTENTS 

PAGE 
69  B.  C. ;  pro.  A.  Caecina,  69  B.  c. ;  pro  A.  Cluentio  Habito,  66  B.  C. ; 
pro  C.  Rabirio,  63  B.  c. ;  pro  L.  Murena,  63  B.  c. ;  pro  P.  Cornelia 
Sulla,  62  B.  c;  pro  Archia,  62  B.  c. ;  pro  Flacco,  59  B.C.;  pro  Domo 
Sua,  57  B.  c. ;  pro  Sestio,  56  B.  c. ;  in  P.  Vatinium,  56  B.  c. ;  pro  M. 
Caelio,  56  B.C.;  pro  Cornelio  Balbo,  56  B.C.;  pro  Plancio,  54  B.C.; 
pro  C.  Rabirio  Postumo,  54  B.C.;  pro  Milone,  52  B.C.;  pro  Liaa- 
rio,  46  B.C.;  pro  Rege  Deiotaro,  45  b.  c 134 

Basis  of  Cicero's  fame  as  an  advocate;  defense  of  the  actor  Roscius;     134 
a   bit  of   ridicule;   word  picture  of   Roscius 135 

Prosecution  of  Verres;  Sicily  a  treasure  house  of  gold  and  art;  136 
dungeon  at  Syracuse;  crucifixion  of  Gavius;  Verres  impeached 
at  Rome,  70  B.C.;  court  composed  entirely  of  senators;  a  pen 
picture  of  the  trial  of  Verres;  a  companion  picture,  trial  of 
Hastings,  the  English  Verres;  commons  a  grand  jury  of  the 
whole  realm;  Burke's  burning  denunciation;  impeachment  man- 
agers; Burke,  Fox,  and  Sheridan;  acquittal  of  Hastings;  Roman 
law  provided  no  official  prosecutor;  Verres  defended  by  Hor- 
tensius;  Cicero  employed  by  Sicilians  as  prosecutor;  his  attack 
on  Caecilius;  his  generous  tribute  to  himself;  Cicero  ap- 
pointed prosecutor;  gathered  evidence  in  fifty  days;  trial  began 
August  5 ;  proofs  for  prosecution  concluded  in  nine  days ;  Verres 
slipped  away  into  exile;  prosecutor  delivered  but  one  speech;  his 
warning  to  the  tribunal;  reform  of  senatorial  courts;  the  main 
issue;  unspoken  speeches  published  in  five  books;  fiction  of  a 
"second  pleading";  Cicero  leader  of  the  Roman  bar  at  thirty-six; 
will    not   appear    again    as    a   prosecutor 147 

Defense  of  the  poet  Archias;  application  of  lex  Papiria;  tributes  to     147 
Archias;   precise  question  at  issue;   reference  to  Catiline  matter.     149 

Defense  of  Milo;  Clodius  killed  January  18,  52  B.C.;  Pompey  made     149 
sole  consul;  Milo  tried  amid  passions  of  factions;  court  organized 
under   a   new  statute;    Cicero  intimidated;   his  speech   rewritten; 
plea  of  self-defense;  statement  of  the  law;  statement  of  the  facts; 
picture  of  Clodius;  an  observation  on  life 154 


CHAPTER  VII 

CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN 

Cicero  the  leader  of  Italian  middle  class;   his  influence  with  that     155 
class  secured  elections  to  office;  the  cursus  honorum;  curule  aedile 
for   69   B.  c 156 

Terentia  and  her  half-sister  Fabia;  villa  above  Tusculum;  birth  of     156 
Marcus;  increase  in  number  of  residences;  house  on  the  Palatine; 
professional    income;    home    life    at   Tusculum;    Tyrranio;    Tiro, 
stenographer  and  right-hand  man 159 


CONTENTS  xxv 

PAGE 

The  praetorship;   venality  in   elections;    Cicero   assigned   the  court     159 
for  extortion   in  the  provinces;   the  Manilian   law;   first  political 
speech;    opposed    by    Hortentius    and    Catulus;    noble    tribute    to 
Pompey;   Cicero  succeeded  by  the  aid  of  Caesar;   supreme  com- 
mand  vested   in  Pompey 163 

Canvass  for  the  consulship  began  in  65  B.C.;  De  Petitione  Consula-  163 
tus;  the  divisor es;  seven  consular  candidates  in  the  field;  Anto- 
nius  and  Catiline  backed  by  Crassus  and  Caesar;  new  statute 
against  corrupt  practices;  speech  in  toga  Candida;  bitter  attack 
upon  Catiline  and  Antonius;  revives  the  memory  of  Fabia ;  how 
a  consular  election  was  conducted;  vote  taken  by  groups;  issue 
decided  by  the  vote  of  the  groups;  Cicero  carried  all  the  thirty- 
five  tribes;  a  "new  man"  raised  to  the  consulate 167 

Assumed  office  as  consul,  January  1,  63  B.C.;  a  radical  lex  agraria;  168 
inaugural  delivered  in  senate;  a  bold  appeal  to  the  people;  ex- 
tracts from  second  speech;  law  abandoned;  defeat  of  a  law  to 
restore  political  rights  to  those  proscribed  by  Sulla;  how  Cicero 
quelled  a  riot  by  his  tact  and  eloquence;  grim  and  irresistible 
good  humor;  pen  picture  by  Ferrero 171 

Prosecution    of    Rabirius;    democratic    movement    against   the    aris-     171 
tocracy;   Caesar  made  pontifex  maximus;  the  menace  of  Crassus 
and  Caesar 172 

Lucius  Sergius  Catiline;  his  offenses  against  Cicero;  impeached  173 
by  Clodius  for  extortion  and  oppression ;  second  struggle  for  the 
consulship;  Cicero  leader  of  aristocracy  and  wealthy  knights; 
candidates  for  the  consulship;  senate  suddenly  convened  on  eve 
of  election ;  Cicero  presided  in  assembly  with  a  cuirass  under 
his  toga;  Catiline  defeated;   Cicero's  defense  of  Murena.     .     .     .     176 

After  second   defeat  Catiline  cast  the  die;   months  of  August  and     176 
September,  63  B.C.,  devoted  to  preparation;  Manlius  at  the  head 
of  an  army  in  Etruria;  meeting  at  the  house  of  Laeca,  Novem- 
ber   6;    First    Catilinarian,    November    8;    Catiline    driven   from 
Rome  never  to  return;  Second  Catilinarian,  November  9.     .     .     .     179 

Fatal   intrigue   with   Allobrogian   envoys;    conference   in   the   house     180 
of   Sempronia,   wife   of   Brutus;    the   Mulvian   bridge,    December 
2-3 ;    Third    Catilinarian,    December    3 ;     excuse    for    permitting 
Catiline  to  escape;  attempt  to  involve  Caesar  and  Crassus;  hon- 
ors for  Cicero 182 

Debate  on  the  death  penalty,   December   5 ;    a   grave  constitutional     182 
question;     Forsyth's     view;     Greenidge's    view;     Sihler's    view; 
Fourth   Catilinarian 184 

Cato's  fiery  appeal  forced  the  death  sentence;  conspirators  strangled     185 
in    the    Mamertine;    demonstration    in    Cicero's    honor;    close    of 
his  career  as  a  statesman;   farewell   address  cut  off  by  tribune's 
veto ;    swore    that    he    had    saved    the    state    and    conserved    the 
empire 187 


xxvi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VIII 

CICERO   AND   POMPEY 

PAGE 

Sulla,    Pompey,    and    Caesar    as   types 188 

Sulla's    leadership    of    the    aristocracy;    consul    with    Crassus    in    71     189 
B.  c. ;  supreme  command  in  the  East ;   God  of  the  Jews  described 
by   Tacitus ;    Pompey's   return   in   62  b.  c. ;    trial   of   Clodius ;   his 
liaison  with   Pompeia;    Pompey's   neutrality;    Caesar   and   Cicero 
as   witnesses;    Pompeia   divorced;    Cicero   and   Clodia 192 

Clodius  acquitted  through  bribery;   Cicero's  invective  against  him;     193 
the    consequences 194 

Cicero's  desire  to  impress  Pompey;  his  first  speech  in  his  presence;     194 
the   great   house   on   the   Palatine;    sources   of   his    enormous   in- 
come;  contributions  from  Antonius;   Caesar's  baggage  seized  for 
debt 196 

Pompey's  gorgeous  triumph;  he  prepares  to  enter  politics;  Caesar's     196 
ambitions;     revived     moderate    democratic     party;     proposed     a 
quatuorvirate ;  the  three-headed  monster  born;  Caesar  and  Bibulus 
consuls  for   59  B.C.;    another  Teutonic  invasion  on  the  horizon; 
marriage   of   Pompey  to  Julia 199 

Caesar  follows   in   the  footsteps  of  his  uncle  Marius;    Clodius   his     199 
electoral  agent;  bill  of  pains  and  penalties  against  Cicero  offered; 
Caesar  and  Pompey  evasive;  Cicero's  appeal  to  the  people;  seeks 
safety   in    flight;    bill    passed    and    property    destroyed;    mandate 
of  popular  assembly 203 

Cicero   in    exile;    his    libera    legatio;   forbidden    Sicily   he   went   to     203 
Greece;  first  letter  to  Terentia;  his  lamentation  to  Atticus;  tender 
outburst  to  wife  and  children;   from  Dyrrachium  to  Macedonia; 
seven  months  at  Thessalonica ;   letter  to  Quintus;  to  Atticus  and 
Terentia ;    visit    from    Atticus 207 

New  year,  57  B.C.,  brought  hope;  motion  for  recall;  description  of     207 
a   Roman    mob;    fundamental   vice    in   Roman    constitution;    only 
safeguard  in  the  people  themselves;  necessary  law  passed  August 
4,  57  B.C.;  triumphal  procession  to  Rome;  one  day  equivalent  to 
immortality 210 

Clodius  ready  to  renew  the  fight;  speech  in  the  Senate,  September     211 
5;  oration  Ad  Quirites;  the  famine  riots;  Cicero  turned  from  the 
aristocracy  to  the  triumvirs;  oration  Pro  Domo  Sua;  main  ques- 
tion   not   decided 213 

Oration  De  Haruspicum  Responsis;  a  critical  moment  in  Caesar's     213 
career;  meeting  at  Luca  with  Cicero;  who  turned  to  Pompey  and 
Caesar;    his   feeling   of   humiliation 215 

Oration   De    Provincits    Consularibus,   June,    56   B.C.;    Caesar   kept     216 
his  command — Pompey  and  Crassus  consuls  for  55  B.C.;  death  of 
Crassus  in  53  B.C.;   Cicero  chosen  augur 217 


CONTENTS  xxvii 

PAGE 

Profound  impression  made  at  Rome  by  Caesar's  victories;  two  in-     217 
vasions  of  Britain   and   the   Commentaries;   Quintus   in   Caesar's 
camp;    also   Cicero's   friend   Trebatius 219 

Break    between    Caesar    and    Pompey    when    Julia    died;    Pompey    219 
"savior  of  society,"  as  sole  consul ;  the  inevitable  conflict.     .     .     .     220 

Cicero  proconsul  of  Cilicia  for  51  B.C.;  arrived  at  Athens  after  an     220 
absence  of  twenty-eight  years;  conspicuous  honesty  and  humanity; 
thirst  for  military  glory;  the  issue  between  Caesar  and  Pompey; 
Cicero  returning  meets  Pompey;  reached  the  gates  of  Rome  Janu- 
ary    4,     49     b.  c 223 

Pompey's  alliance  with  the  aristocracy;  contempt  for  Caesar's  mili-     223 
tary   genius;    Cicero    reveals    his    doubts    and    fears    to    Atticus; 
Caesar's  proposal  at  the  beginning  of  49  B.C.;  the  ultimatum  of 
January    6 ;    rapidity    of    Caesar's    advance 225 

Pompey's    flight   to   the   East;    regarded   by   Cicero   as   disgraceful;     225 
his  appeal  to  Pompey;   letters  to  Atticus 227 

Cicero's  hope  of  a  settlement;   met  Caesar   at  Formiae;   his  rapid     228 
conquest    of   Spain;    Antony   viceroy    of    Italy;    Cicero    went    to 
Pompey  June  7 229 

A    mission    of   despair;    Pompey's    coldness;    Pharsalia,    August    9,     230 
48  B.  c. ;   Cicero's  return  to  Italy  in  October ;   letters  to  Plancius, 
Varro,  and   Marius 231 

CHAPTER  IX 

CICERO  AND  CAESAR 

Caesar  after  Pharsalia;  returned  from  the  East  to  Rome  in  47  B.C.;  233 
battle  of   Thapsus.  April,  46  B.C.;  battle  of   Munda,   March   17, 

45  B.  c. ;  foundations  of  the  new  imperial   system 234 

A  subtle  constitutional  transformation;  magic  wand  of  the  dictator-  235 
ship ;    "perpetual    dictatorship"    and    the    title    impcrator ;    power 

of  the  imperium;  old  republican  constitution  municipalized.     .     .  236 

Comitia   as  a   local   assembly;    reorganization  of  the  senate;   prae-  237 
fectura  morum;  imperial   legislation  superseded  senatorial;  mon- 
archical   power    under    republican    forms;    calendar    reformed; 

changes    in    the    criminal    law 239 

Transformation  of  the  Roman  republic  into  a  hereditary  monarchy;  240 

Cicero's  illusion  as  to  the  dead  republic 240 

Beginning    of    coldness    to    Terentia ;     neglected    by    her    during  240 
Dyrrachium-Pharsalus  campaign;    ingratitude  of   Quintus;   meet- 
ing of  Cicero  and  Caesar,  September,  47  B.C.;  letter  to  Varro.     .  242 

Terentia  divorced  early  in  46  B.C.;  Cicero's  plea;  in  the  hands  of  242 
the  match-makers;   a  gay  dinner  with   Volumnius  and  Cytheris; 

marries  his  rich  ward  Publilia ;  importunate  creditors 244 

Cicero's  Cato;  Caesar's  Anticato;  Sihler's  striking  tribute;   Caesar  244 

as  a  journalist;  his  critical  faculty 246 


xxviii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Caesar's   sumptuary   laws;    Cicero's   fling  at  the   ordinance   against     246 
mushrooms;    how    senatorial    decrees   were   written;    oration    Pro 
Marcello;  "the  restoration  of  the  Republic";   Froude's  grave  in- 
justice;   exposed   by   an   acute   historical    critic 249 

Defense  of  Ligarius;    Caesar   sat   as   sole  judge;    overwhelmed   by     250 
Cicero's  eloquence;   career   as   an   advocate   at   an   end;    Caesar's 
death    grapple    with    sons    of    Pompey .     252 

Death   of  Tullia   early   in  45   B.C.;    Publilia   sent   away  without  a     252 
formal    divorce;    expressions    of    grief    to    friends;    harsh    letter 
from  Brutus;  letter  from  Sulpicius  and  Cicero's  reply;  condolence 
from  Caesar;  the  Consolatio;  profound  discontent  at  Rome.     .     .     254 

Fall  of  Roman  Republic  should  be  dated  from  Munda,  March  17,     255 
45  B.C.;  Cicero  compliments  Caesar  on  his  Anticato 256 

Brutus   marries   Portia;    a   note   from   Cato   to   Cicero;   the   latter's     256 
estimate   of   Brutus;    the   character   of    his    mind;    won   over    by 
Caesar  after  Pharsalia;  Caesar's  love  for  his  mother;   his  plans 
manifest   after    Pharsalia 258 

Brutus    the    Hamlet   of    Roman    politics;    Cicero    his    tutor;    ideals     258 
drawn   from    earlier   times;    patriotic    duty    defined 259 

Caesar's   return   in   September,  45   B.C.;   Brutus   met   him   at   Nice;     260 
Cicero's  last  oration  as  an  advocate;  Caesar  his  guest  at  Puteoli; 
the    dinner;     a    mockery    of    the    ancient    constitution;    no    one 
breakfasted  during  the  consulship  of  Caninius 262 

Caesar   saluted    as   king,    January   26,   44  B.C.;    the   stage   play   of     263 
February  15,  carnival  of  Lupercalia;   Cassius  as  a  nerve  force; 
his  insidious  appeals  to  Brutus;  Brutus  becomes  at  last  the  head; 
the  ides  of  March;  supper  at  the  house  of  Cassius 265 

Cicero  not  one  of  the  actual  conspirators;  but  immediately  ratified  265 
all  that  had  been  done;  made  himself  an  accessory  after  the  fact. 
Cicero  deprecated  the  lack  of  plan  and  foresight;  tyrrannicides 
sought  shelter  in  the  Arx;  Lepidus  occupied  the  Forum;  the  old 
citizenship  not  asleep,  but  dead;  Appian's  statement;  Froude's 
insight;  Caesar's  substitute  a  necessity;  "the  tyrrany  survives 
though  the  tyrant  is  dead." 269 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   DUEL   TO  THE   DEATH   WITH   ANTONY 

Caesar's  adoption  of  Octavius;  career  of  Antony;  head  of  the  state  270 
at  Caesar's  death;   meeting  of  the   Senate  on   March   17;   Cicero 

proposed  a  general   amnesty;   Caesar's  will   and  funeral.     .     .     .  271 

Truce  between    regicides   and    Caesarians;    Athenian   settlement  of  272 
403  B.C.;  necessity  for   the   reestablishment  of  peace  and  order; 

futile  attempt  at  reconciliation 273 


CONTENTS  xxix 

PAGE 

Caesar's   funeral   conducted   by  Antony;    wax   effigy   displaying  the     273 
wounds;   reading  of  the  will;  the  panegyric;  declaration  of  war 
against  the  regicides;  their  houses  burned;  leaders  slipped  away; 
Cicero  the  champion  of  the  fallen  Republic 275 

Acts  done  in  the  name  of  the  dead  Caesar;  Antony's  appeal  to  276 
Cicero  in  behalf  of  Sextius  Clodius;  he  could  have  secured  a 
"peaceful  and  honored  old  age";  meeting  with  Brutus  at  Antium; 
Cicero  sails  for  Greece;  plans  changed  by  news  from  Antony; 
his  unique  position;  the  Ciceronians;  feeling  in  the  country  towns; 
"my    admirable    Dolabella." 279 

Anthony   throws   off  the   mask;    threatens   Cicero;    First  Philippic;     279 
Antony's  reply;   arrival  of  Octavianus;  meets  Cicero  at  Cumae; 
allies  himself  with  republicans  and  appeals  to  the  veterans;  value 
of  professional  soldiers;  Cicero  denounces  their  influence;  center 
of  gravity  of  the  state  with  the  legions 283 

First   struggle   for   the   military   power;    Antony's   partial    success;     284 
a  law  for  the  exchange  of  provinces;   Decimus  Brutus  besieged 
by  Antony   at   Mutina 285 

Second   Philippic;    Octavian  consults   Cicero;    he   is   advised   to   go     285 
to  Rome ;  has  forces  on  which  he  can  depend ;  drift  in  favor  of 
Octavian;   decisive  hour  of  Cicero's  life;   Second  Philippic  pub- 
lished;   Antony    contrasted    with    Caesar 289 

Third  Philippic;   Fourth   Philippic;   ambassadors  to  Antony,  Janu-     290 
ary,  43  B.C.;   Fifth  Philippic;   Cicero  guaranteed  Octavian's  loy- 
alty;  a  compromise  reached;   Sixth  Philippic;   Cicero  prime  min- 
ister  of   Rome 292 

Seventh  Philippic;  no  peace  with  Antony;  Eighth  Philippic;   Ninth     293 
Philippic,  funeral   honors  to   Sulpicius 294 

Marcus  Brutus  in  Greece;  collects  a  small  army  and  wins  successes;     295 
asks  the  senate  to  approve  his  action;  Tenth  Philippic;  terrible 
fate  of  Trebonius  at  the  hands  of  Dolabella;  Eleventh  Philippic.     298 

A  fresh  embassy  to  Antony  proposed  in  March;  his  insulting  reply;     298 
Twelfth  Philippic;  siege  of  Mutina  approaching  a  crisis;  Cicero's 
effort    to    secure    Lepidus    and    Plancus;    Thirteenth    Philippic; 
tribute  to  Sextius  Pompey;  further   letters  from  Plancus.     .     .     .     301 

Antony's  discomfiture  at  Forum  Gallorum;  death  of  Pansa ;  Cicero's     302 
glorious  day;  Fourteenth  Philippic;  tribute  to  the  Martian  legion; 
Mars  "selects  the  bravest  from  the  ranks";  second  and  last  battle 
of  Mutina ;   Antony   and   his  followers   proscribed ;   semblance  of 
victory    an    illusion. 305 

Antony  converted  defeat  into  victory;   political   power  the  fruit  of     306 
physical    force;    Antony    wins   Lepidus;    Octavian's    coup    d'etat; 
Lex  Pedia  de  interfectoribus  Caesaris;  Caesarian  army  in  posses- 
sion  of   Rome   and   Italy 308 

Fate   of   Decimus  Brutus;    reconciliation    of   Antony   and   Octavian;     308 
the   triumviri   reipublicae   constituendae;   scope  of   their   powers; 


xxx  CONTENTS 

PAGE 
dreadful  expedient  for  payment  of  the  army;  Octavian's  sacrifice 
of   Cicero;   why  he  failed   to  join   Decimus  in   pursuing  Antony; 
legions   advocates  of   a   military   monarchy;   when   Octavian   de- 
serted   Cicero;    last   appeal   to   Brutus   and   Cassius 312 

Cicero  declined   both  suicide   and   exile;   his  historical   importance;     313 
Quintus  and  his  son  murdered  at  Rome;  "let  me  die  in  my  country 
I  have  saved  so  often";  Plutarch's  description  of  the  end.     .     .     .     315 

Childish   rage   of  Antony   and    Fulvia 315 

Cicero's   lack   of   sympathy   with   Octavian;    his   tribute   to   Cicero;     316 
bestowed   great  honors  on  his  son ;   Marcus  fought  with   Brutus 
at  Philippi ;  consul  with  Augustus  as  his  colleague 317 

Long  life  of  Terentia;  the  flimsy  case  against  her;   Cicero's  misty     318 
statement;   the  Roman   wife   at  a  great  disadvantage;   return  of 
the    dower.  319 

CHAPTER  XI 

TREATISES   ON    RHETORIC 

A  fruit-bearing  tree  and  a  thought-bearing  man  contrasted;  Cicero     320 
fell  like  an  oak  with  its  leaves  fresh  and  green  upon  it 320 

Each  production  the  natural  outcome  of  a  particular  period;  condi-     321 
tions  that  prompted  his  first  treatise  on  rhetoric;  his  works  on  gov- 
ernment and  law;  on  philosophy  and  theology;  the  correspondence.     322 

Young   Marcus   a   recruit   at   the   age   of   seventeen;   courts   closed     322 
by  a  special  decree ;  except  Commission  of  High  Treason ;  a  book 
on   the   general    theory   of   rhetoric;    preparation   as    a   stylist   in 
Latin    prose 323 

Poverty  of  Roman  letters  prior  to  Cicero's  time;  Ennius;  M.  Porcius     324 
Cato;    Cicero's    grandfather;    Greek    learning    of    Antonius    and 
Crassus;  Cicero's  rhetorical  training  defective  on  the  ethical  side; 
Latin  not  a  philosophical  language;  Cardinal  Newman's  tribute.     .     326 

The  Latin  manual  addressed  to  Herennius;  a  Greek  original  327 
latinized;  all  of  Cicero's  compositions  on  rhetoric  drawn  from 
Greek  sources;  how  eloquence  must  be  considered;  constituent 
elements  of  a  speech;  constitution  of  the  case;  final  arrangement 
of  the  discourse;  how  a  document  should  be  construed;  when  a 
contestant  "relies  on  the  letter  of  the  law." 329 

De  Partitione   Oratorio,   a   catechism   for   the  use   of   Marcus;    the     330 
whole  art  arranged  under  three  heads;   partitiones  highly  scien- 
tific; illustrations  of  its  style;  quoted  by  Quintilian 332 

De  Orator e;  a  letter  to  Atticus;  a  systematic  work  on  oratory  com-     332 
posed  at  the  request  of  Quintus;  "an  air  of  grandeur  and  mag- 
nificence reigns  throughout";  Tusculan  villa  of  Crassus,  91  B.C.; 
varied  accomplishments  of  the  perfect  orator;   technology  of  the 
subject 334 


CONTENTS  xxxi 

PAGE 

An  excursion  into  the  domain  of   law;    Cicero  first  to  define  the     335 
science    of   jurisprudence;    essence   of   Cicero's   unexecuted   plan; 
work  of  Scaevola,  the  younger;  kinds  and  uses  of  wit;  impossible 
to   make   rules   on   the   subject;   nature  of   laughter;   the  thought 
and    language    in    conjunction 338 

Comments  of  Plutarch  and  Quintilian  on  Cicero's  manner;  modera-     339 
tion  and  forbearance  to  be  observed;  typical  witticisms  attributed 
to  Cicero ,     .     340 

Brutus   de   Claris   Oratoribus  ;   sketches   of   all   the  famous   orators     344 
of  Greece  and  Rome;  country  no  longer  supported  by  the  talents, 
wisdom,  and  authority  of  law 344 

Condition    of    things    when    Cicero    went    to   the    bar;    ridicule    of     345 
Curio;    lament  over  the  clouded   future  of  Brutus;    Galba   and 
Cato;    Caius   Gracchus;    a   concealed   epitome   of   the   history   of 
Rome 348 

Ad  Brutum  Orator;  the  perfect  orator;   author  defines  his   ideal;     348 
pen  picture  of  Demosthenes;  his  defense  of  Ctesiphon;  criticisms 
of  Aeschines;  the  real  Attic  manner;  Pericles  and  Lysias;  orations 
of    Demosthenes    and    Aeschines    translated    by    Cicero;    extracts 
from  the  surviving  preface 351 

Topica  ad  C.  Trebatium;  a  simple  abstract  of  the  Topics  of  Aris-     352 
totle;  a  fling  at  the  dead  Caesar 353 

CHAPTER  XII 

TREATISES   ON   GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW 

De  Republica;   certainly   in   circulation   in   the   year    51    B.C.;    not    354 
more  than  a  third  of  the  whole  survives;  first  book  an  epitome  of 
the  science  of  politics ;  three  chief  forms  of  government  analyzed ; 
Scipio's  preference  for  royalty 356 

Second  book  a  review  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  the  Roman  con-  356 
stitution;  tribute  to  the  early  Kings;  the  great  point  in  political 
science;  an  ideal  and  real  commonwealth  contrasted;  great  moral 
obligations  as  the  basis  of  political  union;  third  book  a  collection 
of  disjointed  fragments;  "honesty  the  best  policy";  St.  Augustine's 
City  of  God;  fourth  book  a  dissertation  on  duties  of  citizens;  the 
fifth  on  the  duties  of  magistrates 359 

Sixth  book  embodies  an  appeal  based  on  rewards  beyond  the  grave;  360 
"Scipio's  Dream"  a  confession  of  faith  in  the  immortality  of  the 
soul;  canon  against  self-murder;  the  true  way  to  Heaven;  uni- 
verse composed  of  nine  circles ;  "the  music  of  the  spheres" ;  the 
eternal  seat  of  splendor;  the  immortal  mind  of  man;  "the  good 
of  your   country." 362 

De  Legibus ;  scene  laid   at  Arpinum;   conversation   on  justice   and     363 
law;  cradle  spot  of  Marcus  and  Quintus;  the  villa  in  his  grand- 
father's time 364 


xxxii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Relation   between  De  Republica  and  De  Legibus  defined;   how  the     365 
true  foundations  of  law  and  right  may  be  discovered ;  philosophy 
the  source;  true  nature  of  moral  justice 366 

Plato  followed  only  as  to  external  forms;  substance  of  the  treatise     366 
drawn  from  Stoic  sources;  Cardinal  Newman's  statement.     .     .     .     367 

First  book  seeks  "the  origin  of  justice  at  its  fountain  head";   God     367 
and  men  associated  by  law;  nature  the  fountain  of  justice;  second 
book  devoted  to  religious  worship;   Morabin's  striking  comment; 
source  of   Hooker's  famous  exordium ;   third  book  devoted  to  an 
exposition    of    civil    laws 369 

De  Officiis  the  conclusion  of  an  appeal  first  made  in  De  Republica;     370 
social  and  political  degeneration;  an  effort  to  conciliate  imperial- 
ism   with    liberty 370 

Separation  of  the  sciences;  Aristotle  the  founder  of  political  science;  371 
Cicero  ignored  his  separation  of  ethics  from  politics;  Zeno  caught 
the  practical  spirit  of  the  age;  Panaetius  the  founder  of  Roman 
stoicism ;  Cicero's  effort  to  construct  out  of  Stoic  ethics  a  code 
of  practical  morality;  took  Panaetius  as  his  guide;  an  interesting 
sidelight;  Athenodorus  Calvus 374 

First  book  a  threefold   division  of  the  subject;   is  an   action   abso-     374 
lutely  good    (honestum),   or   relatively  so    (utile)?;   second  book 
devoted  to  the  utile;  third  book,  no  real  conflict  between  honestum 
and  utile;  case  of  Regulus;  the  famous  trilogy  as  a  regenerating 
influence 377 

CHAPTER  XIII 

TREATISES  ON   PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY 

The  Academica,  two  editions;   second  dedicated  to  Varro;  superi-     378 
ority  of  New  Academy  to  Old;  the  senses;  Academica  copied  on 
long  paper  and  sent  to  Varro  at  risk  of  Atticus ;  too  complicated 
for   shorthand 380 

Hortensius,  or  De  Philosophia;  Plato's   Timaeus 380 

De  Finibus  Bonorum  et  Malorum;  in  the  manner  of  Aristotle;  dedi-  380 
cated  to  Brutus;  first  book  an  apology  for  the  study  of  philosophy; 
second,  an  attack  on  the  Epicureans;  third,  a  discussion  on  ethics; 
Cato  speaks  for  the  Stoics;  expresses  himself  as  to  suicide;  fourth, 
Cicero's  reply  for  the  New  Academy;  fifth,  the  Academy  at  Athens, 
79-78  B.C.;  Aristotle;  Piso's  rejoinder  for  Peripatetics 383 

Tusculan  Disputations;  "If  a  man  die  shall  he  live  again?";  the  384 
Consolatio ;  five  great  subjects;  first  book,  on  the  contempt  of 
death;  Stoic  and  Platonic  influences;  nature  of  the  soul;  it  must 
be  eternal;  second  book,  on  the  bearing  of  pain;  third  book,  on 
the  mitigation  of  sorrow;  fourth,  wise  man  free  from  perturba- 
tions; fifth,  virtue  sufficient  to  insure  a  happy  life;  every  man  can 
create   and   preserve   his  own   happiness 388 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Paradoxa  Stoicorum;  described  by  its   author;   the  moral   the  only     389 
good;  the  virtuous  destitute  of  nothing;   good  and  evil  admit  of 
no  degrees;   every  fool  a  madman;  every  fool  a  slave;  only  the 
wise  man  is  rich 390 

De  Senectute;   pathetic  contrast  between  facts   and  theory;    Cato's     391 
attempt  to  argue  away  the  miseries  of  old  age;  case  of  Maximus.     392 

Noble  dissertation  on  immortality;   death,  because  followed  by  im-     392 
mortality,  not  to  be  lamented ;   soul  cannot  undergo  dissolution ; 
why   old    age   should   be   delightful 394 

Laelius,    De    Amicitia;    famous    "Stoic   marriages";    attachment   of     394 
Laelius  and  Scipio;  friendship  a  complete  union  of  feeling  on  all 
subjects;  has  its  origin  in  nature;  when  there  should  be  a  com- 
munity in  all  things 397 

De   Natura   Deorum,   the    philosophy   of    religion;    Cicero   explains     397 
why  he  expounds  philosophy  in  the  Latin  tongue;  earliest  indica- 
tion of  preparation  for  the  work;  Cotta  speaks  for  New  Academy, 
Balbus  for   Stoics,  Velleius  for  Epicureans;   a  fling  at  Plato  and 
the  Stoics;   Cotta's  response 399 

Essence  of  Stoic  creed ;  God  is  the  Universe,  the  Universe  is  God ;     400 
one  supreme  God  source  of  natural  law;  the  little  gods  as  physical 
forces;   design   as   against  fortuitous  concourse  of   atoms;   Cotta's 
rejoinder  in  third  book,   parts  of  which  are  lost 402 

De  Divinatione,  a  treatise  on  the  Mantic  Art;   Stoic  proof  of  the    402 
reality  of  divination;  arguments  of  Carneades  against  Manticism; 
references  to  Crassus;  Pompey;  Caesar;  an  oppressive  superstition.     405 

De  Fato,  last  of  the  series  on  speculative  theology;   Fate  the  \6yost    405 
the  divine  essence;  "the  reason  of  the  universe";  destiny  and  free 
will   interdependent 406 


xxxm 


CHAPTER  XIV 


CORRESPONDENCE    AND    MISCELLANEOUS   WORKS 


"The  city,  the  city,  my  dear  Rufus,  stick  to  that";  how  news  was  408 
circulated  at  Rome;  ancient  placards  as  a  means  of  publicity; 
Caesar  gave  publicity  to  proceedings  of  the  Senate;  the  Great 
Annals  as  a  source  of  Roman  history;  acta  diurna  populi  romani; 
the  news  letter;  personal  letters  from  trusted  friends;  epistolary 
history  of  the  last  years  of  the  Roman  Republic 412 

Cicero's  correspondence  begins  in  his  thirty-ninth  year;   first  letter    413 
to  Atticus,   then   at  Athens;   no   letters  for  the   critical   years   64 
and   63   b.  c. ;    correspondence  continuous   from   62  to  43   B.  c. ;   a 
splendid  estimate 414 

Letters   arranged   in  four  groups;   Titus  Pomponius  born   at  Rome     415 
109  B.C.;  out  of  his  life  at  Athens  grew  his  title  of  Atticus;  money 
lender   and    publisher   at  Athens;    his   return   to   Rome;    Cicero's 


xxxiv  CONTENTS 

PAGE 
banker   and   book   publisher;   his   parsimony;    Cicero's   confidence 
in  him;  his  last  letter  to  him;  pen  picture  of  Octavian;  personal 
insolvency;   Atticus  survived   the  shipwreck 419 

Tiro,  the  orator's  right-hand  man ;  director  of  the  household  econ-  420 
omy;  "Tertia  will  not  come  if  Publius  is  invited";  shorthand 
writer  and  collaborator;  a  tender  letter  from  Cicero;  from 
Quintus;  from  Marcus  the  younger;  Tiro,  inventor  of  shorthand; 
"takes  down  whole  periods  at  a  breath";  Thompson  on  the  Notae 
Tironianae;  in  a  medieval  dress;  group  of  syllabic  signs; 
manumission  of  Tiro,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Marcus  Tullius; 
manumission  of  Statius  by  Quintus;  Tiro  as  Cicero's  literary  ex- 
ecutor; devoted  remainder  of  very  long  life  to  his  task 426 

Miscellaneous  works;  Oeconomica  ex  Xenophonte;  De  Consiliis  suis ;     427 
De  Consulate;  panegyrics  on  Cato  and  Portia;   Poetical  works; 
Aratus,  Stoic  poet  of  Soli ;  translations  from  Homer 429 


CHAPTER  XV 

AN   APPRECIATION   OF   CICERO 

A  turning   point   in   the   world's   history;    Cicero   and   St.   Paul;    a     430 
type   of   statesman   new   to   history   of   Rome;    Italian    or    Social 
War 431 

At   twenty-five    Cicero    began    his   forensic    career;    his    entry    into     432 
politics;  leader  of  the  Italian  middle  class;  conspiracy  of  Catiline; 
Cicero's  conduct;   how  estimated  at  the  time;   Clodius  as   leader 
of  the  Roman  mob;  Bona  Dea  scandal;  his  wailings  in  adversity; 
the   true   test  of  courage 435 

Judgments    of    contemporaries;    Cicero   never   faltered   on    a    great    436 
occasion;    duel    to   the   death    with    Antony;    first   Philippic;    the 
struggle  for  the  legions;  center  of  gravity  of  the  state  had  shifted; 
siege    of    Mutina 438 

Cicero    prime    minister    of    Rome;    why    success    was    impossible;     439 
reason  given  by  Decimus  Brutus;  Cicero  as  a  man  of  contempla- 
tion;   his    intellectual    fruitfulness;    no    deliberate    design    in    the 
direction   of   authorship ;    treatises   on   government   and   law ;    De 
Republica;  De  Legibus ;  De  Officiis 442 

Motive   of   famous   trilogy;    treatises   on   philosophy   and   theology;     443 
Stoicism  the  undertone;  God  as  the  source  of  permanent,  uniform 
and  universal  law;  definitions  of  immortality;  orations  and  letters.     444 

Moral  values  as  expressed  in  the  letters;  revelations  as  to  Roman  445 
etiquette;  Cicero's  contributions  to  Roman  literature;  and  to  the 
Latin  tongue;  extent  to  which  he  supplemented  old  materials; 
his  influence  on  the  thought  of  the  early  Christian  church;  Cicero's 
works  in  early  Christian  libraries;  Cicero,  Petrarch's  literary  idol; 
"not  a  pagan  philosopher,  but  a  Christian  apostle." 448 


CONTENTS 


XXXV 


Literary  dictatorship  of  Virgil  and  Cicero;  Quintilian's  estimate  of     4+9 
Cicero    as    an    orator;    Mommsen's    view;    comparison    between 
Demosthenes  and  Cicero;   Dio  Cassius;   an  official  historian  con- 
sumed with  hatred  of  Cicero;  speech  put  into  mouth  of  Calenus.     .     451 

Animus   of   Appian    and    Dio;    labored    malevolence   of   Drumann;     452 
motive  of  the  attack;  Mommsen's  restatement;  a  typical  extract; 
influence    of    Caesar    worship ;    effect    of    Mommsen's    assault    a 
thing  of  the  past 455 


THE  SAYINGS  OF  CICERO 

Collected  and  arranged  for  the  first  time  as  an  anthology,  con- 
sisting of  about  a  thousand  extracts  carefully  selected  from  the 
following  compositions : 


Academica,  459-461. 

Ad  Atticum,  461-463. 

Ad  Cornelium  Nepotem,  463. 

Ad  Familiares,  463-470. 

Ad  Quintum  Fratrem,  470,  471. 

Ad  Quirites,  471. 

Brutus   de   Claris   Oratoribus,   471, 

473. 
De  Amicitia,  472-478. 
De  Divinatione,  478-482. 
De  Finibus,  482-485. 
De  Haruspicum  Responsis,  486. 
De  Imperio  Cn.  Pompeii,  486. 
De  Lege  Agraria,  487. 
De  Legibus,  487-492. 
De  Natura   Deorum,  493-498. 
De  Officiis,  498-522. 
De  Oratore,  522-530. 
De  Partitione  Oratoria,   530. 
De  Philosophia,  531. 
De  Petitione  Consulatus,   531. 
De  Provinciis   Consularibus,   531. 
De  Republica,   531-537.     (Somnium 

Scipionis,  537"539) 
De  Senectute,  539-549. 
Epistolae  ad  Brutum,  549,  550. 
Fragmenta,  550. 
In  Catilinam,  550-553. 
In  Pisonem,  553,  554. 
In  Vatinium,  554. 


In  Verrem,  554-557- 

Orator,  557-559- 

Paradoxa,  559-562. 

Philippicae,  562-569. 

Post  Reditum  in  Senatu,  569. 

Pro  Archia,  570-574. 

Pro  Caecina,  574. 

Pro  Caelio,  575,  576. 

Pro  C.  Rabirio,  576. 

Pro  Cluentio,  576,  577. 

Pro  Cornelio  Balbo,  577,  578. 

Pro  Domo  Sua,  578. 

Pro  Flacco,  578. 

Pro  Lege  Manilia,  579,  580. 

Pro  Ligario,  580,  581. 

Pro  Marcello,  581. 

Pro  Milone,   581-583. 

Pro  Murena,  583,  584. 

Pro  Plancio,  584-586. 

Pro  P.  Quinctio,  586. 

Pro  Rege  Deiotaro,  587. 

Pro  Roscio  Amerino,  587,  5S8. 

Pro  Roscio  Comoedo,  588,  589. 

Pro  Sestio,  589. 

Pro  Sulla,  589. 

Pro  Tullio,   590. 

Rhetorica   ad  Herennium,   590. 

Somnium  Scipionis,  537-539. 

Tusculanae  Disputationes,   590-603. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Apart  from  the  ancient  sources,  the  leading  authorities,  cited 
or  consulted,  are  as  follows: 

Abeken,  B.  R.     Cicero  in  seinen  Briefen.     Hanover,  1835 
Arnim,  H.  von.     Stoicorum  Veterum  Fragmenta.     Teubner,  Leipzig,  1903 
Arnold,  E.  Vernon.     Roman  Stoicism;  Being  lectures  on  the  history  of 
the  Stoic  philosophy  with  special  reference  to  its  development  within 
the  Roman  Empire.     The  Cambridge  University  Press,  England,  191 1 
Asverus,  G.  A.     Die  Legis  actio  sacramenti.     Leipzig,  1837 
Augustine,  St.     Confessions.    Translation  by  E.  B.  Pusey.    E.  P.  Dutton 
&  Co.,  New  York. 
The  City  of  God.    E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co. 

Bagehot,  Walter.    The  English  Constitution.     D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New 

York 
Barnabei,  F.     Di  un  termine  graccano  scoperto  presso  Atena,  in  Notizie 

degli  scavi,  March,   1897 
Barone,  E.     I  grandi  capitani  sino  alia  rivoluzione  francese.     Turin,  1898 
Beloch,  J.     Der  Italische  Bund  unter  Roms   Hegemonic     Leipzig,   1880 
Belot,  E.     Histoire  des  chevaliers  Romains  considered  dans  ses  rapports 

avec  les  differentes  constitutions  de  Rome.     Paris,  1869-73 
Bernhoeft,  F.    Staat  und  Recht  der  romischen  Konigszeit  im  Verhaltniss 

zu  verwandten   Rechten.     Stuttgart,   1882 
Bethmann-Hollweg,  M.  A.  von.     Der  rdmische  Civilprozess.     Der  Civil- 

prozess  des  gemeinen  Rechts.    Bonn,  1864 
Bloch,   G.     Origines   du   senat  romain.     Fontemoing,  Paris 
Boissier,    Gaston.     Ciceron    et   ses   Amis.     Paris,    1866.     Translation    by 
A.  D.  Jones.     Cicero  and  His  Friends.     A.  D.  Innes  &  Co.,  London, 
1897 
Tacitus    and   Other   Roman   Studies.     Translation   by   Hutchinson.     A. 
Constable  &  Co.     London,  1906 
Borgeaud,   C.     Le  plebiscite   dans   Pantiquite.   Grece   et  Rome.     Geneva, 

1886 
Botsford,  G.  W.    The  Roman  Assemblies.     The  Macmillan   Co.,  New 
York 
On  the  Legality  of  the  Trial  and  Condemnation  of  the  Catiline  Con- 
spirators.    Classical  Weekly,  New  York,  March  1,  1913 
Bouche-Leclercq,  A.     Les  pontifes  de  1'ancienne  Rome.     Paris,  1871 
Brugnola.     Le  Facezie  di  Cicerone.     Citta  di  Castello,  Umbria 

xxxvii 


xxxviii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bruns,  C.  Fontes  juris  Romani  antiqui.  Ed.  Carl  Geo.  Bruns.  4th  ed., 
Tubingen,  1879;   6th  ed.  by  Mommsen  and  Gradenwitz,  1893 

Bryce,  James.  Studies  in  History  and  Jurisprudence.  The  Oxford  Uni- 
versity Press 

Caetani-Lovatelu.     I   giornali    dei    Romani,    in    the   Nuova   Antologia, 

Rome,   November,    1901 
Cantalupi,  Pietro.     La  magistratura  di  Silla   durante  la  guerra  civile. 

Rome,  1900 
Carle,  Giuseppe.     Le  Origine  del  diritto  romano.     Turin,   1888 
.    Causeret,  C.    Etude  sur  la  Langue  de  la  Rhetorique  et  de  la  Critique  dans 

Ciceron.     Paris,  1886 
Clark,  E.  C.     Early  Roman  Law;  the  Regal  period.     London,  1872 
Cohn,  M.     Zum  romischen  Vereinsrecht.    Berlin,  1873 
Conybeare  and  Howson.     Life   and  Epistles  of  St.   Paul.     Fleming  H. 

Revell  Co.,  New  York 
Crossley,    Hastings.     M.    Aurelius    Antoninus.    The    fourth    book    with 

translation,  commentary,  and  appendix  on  C.  Fronto.     The  Macmil- 

lan  Company,  London,  1882 
Cuq,  Edouard.     Les  institutions  juridiques  des  Romains  (L'ancien  droit). 

Plon,  Paris,   1891 
Czyhlarz,   C.   VON.     Lehrbuch   der   Institutionen   des   romischen    Rechts. 

Leipzig,  1895 

Dante.     Divina  Commedia.     The  Oxford  University  Press 

Daremberg,    Saglio,    et    Pottier.      Dictionaire    des    antiquites    grecques. 

Paris,    1873 
Dareste,  Rodolphe.     Etudes  d'Histoire  du  Droit.     1889 
La  Science  du  Droit  en  Grece.     Larose,  Paris,  1893 
Nouvelles  Etudes  d'Histoire  du  Droit.     1902 
Drane,  Augusta  T.     Christian  Schools  and  Scholars.     G.  E.  Stechert  & 

Co.,  New   York 
Drumann,  W.     Geschichte  Roms  in  seinem  Uebergange  von  der  republi- 

kanischen   zur  monarchischen  Verfassung.     Leipzig,   1834 
Duebi,  H.     Die  Juengeren   Quellen  der  Catilinarischen  Vcrschwoerung. 

N.  Jahrb.,  Berne,   1876 
Duruy,  V.     History  of  Rome,  and  of  the  Roman  People.     Translation  by 

W.  J.  Clarke.     Edited  by  J.  P.  Mahaffy,  London,  1883 
Dyer,  T.  H.     A  History  of  the  City  of  Rome.     London,  1865 
History  of  the  Kings  of  Rome.     1868 

»    Erasmus,  Desiderius.     Ciceronianus.     Translation  by  Izora  Scott;   intro- 
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York,    1908 
Ernesti,  J.  A.     Clavis  Ciceroniana.     1739 


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Ferrero,   Guglielmo.     Grandezza   e  Decadenza  di   Roma.     Turin,   1901. 
Translation  by  Alfred  E.  Zimmern.     G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1910 
The  Women  of  the  Caesars.     The  Century  Co.,  New  York,  191 1 
Ferrini,  Contardo.     Storia  delle  fonti  del  diritto  romano  e  della  giuri- 

sprudenza  romana.     Horpli,  Milan,  1885 
Fioretti,  G.     Legis  actio  sacramenti.     Naples,  1883 
Forsyth,  William.     Life  of  Marcus  Tullius  Cicero.     Charles  Scribner's 

Sons,   New   York 
Foster,  Herbert  B.     Translation  of  Dio  Coccelanus  Cassius.     Pafraets 

Book  Co.,  Troy,  New  York 
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The  Loeb  Classical  Library,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1914 
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Macmillan   Co.,   1910 
Freeman,  Edward  A.     Comparative  Politics.     The  Macmillan  Co. 
Froude,  A.     Caesar,  a   Sketch.     Charles   Scribner's  Sons 
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droit,   les   institutiones   de   la    Grece   et   de  Rome.     Hachette,   Paris, 

1895 

Gaumitz,  H.     Cicero  pro  Scauro,  Leipzig,   1879 

Gibbon,  E.     Decline   and   Fall   of  the  Roman   Empire.     Edited  by  J.  B. 

Bury,   London,    1896 
Gibson,  H.  W.     The  Influence  of  Christianity  upon  the  Law  of  Rome. 

La<w  Magazine  and  Review,  August,   1906 
Gilbert,  O.     Geschichte  und  Topographie  der  Stadt  Rom  im  Altertum. 

Leipzig,    1883 
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l'etude  de  cette  legislation.     Rousseau,  Paris,  1847 
Goodwin,  F.     The  Twelve  Tables.     London,   1886 
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ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Cicero  Frontispiece 

Capitol,  Forum,  and  Palatine 76 

Quintus  Hortensius 140 

Cicero  speaking  in  the  Senate  against  Catiline 174 

Temple  of  Concord 179 

Mamertine  Prison 186 

Pompey  the   Great 188 

Julius  Caesar 232 

Death  of  Caesar 266 

Mark  Antony 270 

Brutus 296 

Temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus 305 

The   Young  Augustus 310 

Formiae   315 

The  Roman  Forum 410 

Tomb  of  Cicero 455 

Cicero 457 


xlv 


■    ■;'•'. 


i 


CICERO 

CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

After  twenty  centuries  of  fame  and  influence  Cicero,  Twenty 


centuries  of 
fame  and 


herald  of 
antiquity.1 


who  at  a  turning-point  in  the  world's  history  stood  second 
only  to  Caesar  himself,  survives  as  the  most  important  influence 
connecting  link  between  the  ancient  and  the  modern 
world.  His  works  have  stood  time's  crucial  test.  In 
the  transmutation  of  human  thought  they  have  not  been 
absorbed;  they  have  not  melted  down  into  the  mass;  they 
have  not  lost  their  identity.  At  the  end  of  twenty  cen- 
turies all  of  his  more  important  compositions  live  on  as 
distinct  and  familiar  personalities  known  to  all  mankind. 

Endowed  with  a  mind  marvellous  in  its  range  and  cicero"the 
unlimited  in  its  power  to  grasp  and  hold  everything,  the 
brilliant  son  of  ancient  Italy,  after  possessing  himself  of 
the  entire  deposit  of  thought  made  by  the  Greeks  with 
the  Romans,  transmitted  it  to  posterity  through  the  Latin 
tongue  which  he  vastly  enlarged  and  enriched  in  order  to 
render  it  capable  of  the  task  he  imposed  upon  it.  In  that 
way  he  has  won  a  place  at  once  august  and  unique  as  the 
interpreter  and  transmitter  of  the  thoughts  of  the  ancient 
to  the  modern  world.  He  is  the  greatest  of  all  envoys  to 
the  Christian  present  from  the  pagan  past.  He  described 
his  own  mission  when  he  said:  "History  is  the  witness  of 
the  times,  the  torch  of  truth,  the  life  of  memory,  the 
teacher  of  life,  the  herald  of  antiquity."  * 

1  "Historia  testis  temporum,  lux  veritatis,  vita  memoriae,  magistra  vitae, 
nuntia  vetustatis."  —  Cicero,  De  Orator e,  ii,  9. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


His  works 
the  unpre- 
meditated 
outcome  of 
his  career. 


The  Forum 
as  a  popular 
university. 


Tyrrell's 
brilliant 
tribute. 


The  persistency  of  Cicero's  intellectual  influence  can 
only  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  works  in  which  his 
thoughts  are  embodied  were  the  natural  and  unpremedi- 
tated outcome  of  the  career  of  an  intensely  human  and 
rarely  gifted  man  who  was  ever  applying  the  fruits  of 
abstract  speculation  to  the  practical  problems  of  life  at  a 
time  when  such  problems  were  passing  through  the  cru- 
cible of  a  profound  political  and  spiritual  revolution.  His 
first  ambition  was  to  become  an  advocate,  a  leader  of  the 
Roman  bar,  at  a  time  when  the  Forum  was  a  great  popu- 
lar university  in  which  the  Roman  people  gathered  for 
instruction  at  the  hands  of  the  orators,  forensic  and  tribu- 
nitian,  whose  discourses,  after  being  taken  down  by  short- 
hand writers,2  were  circulated  through  the  provinces.  The 
famous  Ciceronian  scholar,  Tyrrell,  in  describing  the  influ- 
ence of  Cicero's  orations  on  public  opinion,  has  said: 

His  speeches  discharged  the  highest  work  now  done  by  otfr  best 
newspapers,  magazines,  and  reviews.  To  gain  Cicero  was  what  it 
would  be  to  secure  the  advocacy  of  the  Times;  or  rather  what  it 
would  be  were  there  no  other  paper,  review,  or  magazine  but  the 
Times,  and  were  the  leaders  of  the  Times  written  by  Burke  and 
Sheridan They  put  the  public  in  possession  of  the  circum- 
stances in  each  case,3  and  taught  them  to  look  on  these  circum- 
stances with  the  eyes  of  the  speaker  and  his  party;  they  converted 
resistance  into  acceptance,  and  warmed  acceptance  into  enthusiasm  ; 


2  See  pp.  79,  159- 

3  In  his  defense  of  Sulla,  Cicero  tells  us  (xv)  that  in  order  to  arouse 
public  opinion  in  his  favor  in  the  affair  of  Catiline  he  had  copied  and  dis- 
tributed the  depositions  of  the  witnesses  against  the  conspirators.  "I  did  not 
keep  it  [the  testimony]  at  my  own  house ;  but  I  caused  it  at  once  to  be  copied 
out  by  several  clerks,  and  to  be  distributed  everywhere,  and  published  and 
made  known  to  the  Roman  people.  I  distributed  it  all  over  Italy.  I  sent 
copies  of  it  unto  every  province."  From  Pliny  (Epistolae,  iv,  7)  we  learn 
that  the  old  reformer  Regulus,  having  lost  his  son,  distributed  1,000  copies 
of  his  eulogy  upon  him  to  be  solemnly  read  in  the  principal  cities  of  the 
Empire.  These  are  the  most  striking  illustrations  of  the  multiplication  of 
documents  in  the  ancient  world. 


INTRODUCTION  3 

they  provided  faith  with  reason,  doubt  with  arguments,  and  triumph 
with  words. 

In  the  great  days  of  Cicero  and  Hortensius  the  vast  Greatdaysof 
quadrilateral  or  open-air  theatre  known  as  the  Forum,  Cicero  and 
with  its  porticoes  and  colonnades  filled  with  crowds  that 
overflowed  its  limits  and  extended  to  the  surrounding 
temples,  held  the  largest  and  most  brilliantly  lighted  stage 
upon  which  ambitious  men  had  ever  played.  There  was 
no  limit  to  the  rewards  that  might  be  won  by  eloquence : 
first,  princely  fortunes  sufficient  to  support  mansions  on 
the  Palatine  and  luxurious  country  villas  in  every  quarter; 
next,  political  office  and  senatorial  rank,  coupled  with  the 
right  to  rule  and  rob  an  Eastern  province.  Excepting 
the  last,  Cicero  improved  every  opportunity  which  leader- 
ship of  the  Roman  bar  afforded,  bequeathing  in  return  to 
posterity  masterpieces  of  forensic  eloquence  which  have 
remained  as  models  for  all  time. 

His  marvellous   success   as   an   advocate  transformed   Cicero  as 
him  into  a  statesman,  and  his  mission  as  statesman  trans-   "  °*?r 
formed  him  into  a  philosopher,  or  rather  into  a  great 
moral  teacher  who,  in  his  later  years,  devoted  himself 
with  passionate   earnestness  to   the   task  of  saving  the 
Roman  Republic  through  a  tremendous  moral  appeal  to 
its  citizenship  at  a  time  when  social  order  was  in  danger 
of  being  overwhelmed  by  avarice,  luxury,  and  debt.    The 
first  appeal  made  in  the  De  Republica*  in  which  the  De 
author  says:   "in   civil   dissension,   when  the   good  citi-     epu 
zens  are  more  important  than  the  many,  I  think  citizens 
should  be  weighed,  not  counted,"  culminated  in  "Scipio's 
Dream,"  in  which  the  good  citizen  is  told  that — 

....  to  defend  the  state  with  the  greater  cheerfulness,  be  assured 
that  for  all  those  who  have  in  any  way  conduced  to  the  preserva- 

4  De  Repub.,  vi,  i. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


De 

Legibus. 


De  Finibus, 
Tusculanae 
Disputa- 
tion es, 
De  Officii*. 


Their  author 
does  not 
belong 
to  the 
"classicists." 


tion,  defense,  and  enlargement  of  their  native  country,  there  is  cer- 
tainly a  place  in  heaven  where  the  blessed  shall  enjoy  eternal  life.5 

On  the  heels  of  that  appeal,  and  as  an  extension  of  it, 
came  the  De  Legibus,  in  which  he  strove  with  even 
greater  earnestness  to  bring  home  to  all  citizens  who 
entertained  the  sentiment  of  national  honor,  the  convic- 
tion that  the  integrity  and  excellence  of  the  state  must 
ever  depend  upon  the  integrity  and  excellence  of  their 
lives  and  manners.  As  further  elaborations  of  that  civic 
gospel  followed  the  De  Finibus,  on  the  ultimate  founda- 
tions of  ethics;  the  Tusculanae  Disputationes,  on  inci- 
dental questions  concerning  ethics;  and  the  De  Officiis,  a 
treatise  on  practical  problems  propounded  in  the  De 
Republica  from  the  moral  and  social  rather  than  from  the 
political  point  of  view. 

Thus  it  appears  that  these  deathless  compositions  upon 
the  subjects  of  ethics  and  politics  that  still  stir  and  guide 
the  world  were  not  fabricated  as  abstract  speculations  by 
a  lonely  thinker  in  "the  unvexed  silence  of  a  student's 
cell,"  but  by  a  practical  statesman,  and  ardent  patriot, 
who,  in  the  presence  of  a  rapidly  approaching  crisis,  was 
striving  to  save  from  wreck  and  ruin  an  ancient  popular 
constitution  whose  strength  depended  absolutely  upon  the 
virtue  and  patriotism  of  its  citizens. 

Certainly  there  is  no  reason  why  the  history  of  the  life 
of  this  busy  advocate,  statesman,  and  essayist  upon  the 
problems  involved  in  practical  ethics,  politics,  and  law, 
should  belong  in  any  special  sense  to  those  who  are  called 
scholars  or  "classicists."  It  requires,  no  doubt,  an  unu- 
sual effort  for  one  of  that  class  to  grasp  its  larger  meaning 
and  real  significance  because,  "the  modern  scholar  is  apt 
to  be  like  a  caterpillar  spun  up  in  his  own  cocoon;  unable 

■  De  Repub.,  vi,  13. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

to  get  away  from  his  critical  and  eruditional  point  of  view. 
But  Cicero  had  no  eruditional  view  at  all."  6 

No  matter  whether  it  be  classicist  or  publicist  who 
attempts  to  solve  the  problem  of  problems  involved  in 
Cicero's  life,  no  progress  will  be  made  unless  he  is  clear- 
visioned  enough  to  brush  aside  the  thin  veil  that  conceals 
the  fact  that  when  the  great  orator  laid  down  the  dex- 
terous arts  of  the  advocate  and  assumed  the  stern  moral 
and  patriotic  duties  of  the  statesman,  he  at  the  same  time 
put  aside  the  quibbling  skepticism  of  the  Academy  for  the  Cicero's 
lofty  precepts  of  the  new  world-religion  known  as  Stoi-  B^is^*0 
cism,  by  which  the  jurists  of  Rome  became  completely 
enthralled. 

That  new  philosophy,  "the  earliest  offspring  of  the 
union  between  the  religious  consciousness  of  the  East  and 
the  intellectual  culture  of  the  West," 7  which  came  to 
Rome  by  the  way  of  Greece,  undertook  to  sweep  away  the 
barriers  between  nation  and  nation  through  the  creation 
of  an  ideal  world-state,  governed,  not  by  local  codes,  but  ideal 
by  permanent,  uniform,  and  universal  law  flowing  from  a  wor  d"9tate- 
single  God,  who  is  Lord  and  Father,  "a  Supreme  Deity, 
who  governs  the  world  with  boundless  power  and  benevo- 
lent will,  and  is  manifested  to  men,  as  the  Logos  or 
•divine  Word.'"8 

By  that  magnificent  notion  of  a  single  God  as  the  source   God  as 
of  natural  law,  Pantheism  was  wrecked  in  substance,  if  not  naturaHaw 
in  form,  and  the  way  opened  for  a  new  conception  of  the 
destiny  of  man  as  a  member  of  a  world-wide  society  in  Fatherhood 
which  all  distinctions  of  race,  caste,  and  class  were  to  be  °f  ?od. an"? 

brotherhood 

subordinated  to  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brother-  of  man. 

*  E.  G.  Sihler,  Cicero  of  Arpinum,  p.  408. 

7  Lightf  oot,  p.  274. 

8  Arnold,  p.  17. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Stoic  ideal 
of  a  good 
citizen. 


Rewards 
in  a  life 
beyond 
the  grave. 


Definitions 
of  immor- 
tality. 


hood  of  man.  Armed  with  that  new  Stoic  conception  of 
a  single  and  law-creating  God,  and  with  that  logic  in 
which  the  Stoics  were  such  adepts,  Cicero  was  able  to 
redefine  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  conscious  per- 
sonal existence  after  death,  in  a  civic  heaven,  if  you  please, 
with  a  distinctness  and  convincing  power  which  a  dream- 
ing philosopher  like  Plato,  not  so  armed,  had  never  been 
able  to  impart  to  such  thoughts. 

The  ultimate  end  of  Stoicism  was  the  creation  of  a  good 
citizen,  with  a  well-disposed  soul,  who,  guided  by  the 
examples  of  wise  men,  was  capable  of  rising  above  nation- 
alism, antiquity,  custom,  pride,  and  prejudice  into  the 
realm  of  universal  reason  and  individual  liberty.  As  we 
shall  see  later  on,  that  ideal  of  a  good  citizen  was  the 
weapon  Cicero  seized  upon  when,  with,  the  zeal  of  an 
enthusiast  and  the  power  of  a  Titan,  he  essayed  the  im- 
possible task  of  saving  the  Roman  Republic  through  a 
social,  moral,  and  political  regeneration  of  the  governing 
classes  in  Roman  society. 

In  his  efforts  to  arouse  his  fellow-citizens  to  a  higher 
sense  of  civic  duty  he  offered  without  reserve  rewards  in 
a  higher  life  beyond  the  grave.  He  did  not  hesitate  to 
say  to  his  fellowman :  "You  were  bom  not  by  chance, 
but  in  obedience  to  the  law  of  the  'Lord  and  Father,'  who 
will  not  only  care  for  you  while  you  are  here,  but  will  pro- 
vide for  you  an  eternal  haven  of  rest  and  glory  after 
death."9 

It  is  impossible  to  contest  the  fact  that  Cicero,  who 
passed  out  of  the  world  forty-three  years  before  Christ 
came  into  it,  defined  the  doctrine  of  a  personal  and  con- 
scious existence  of  the  soul  in  a  realm  beyond  the  grave 

9  Pro  C.  Rab.,  perd.,  10. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

where  the  good  are  glorified  and  rewarded  by  one 
Supreme  God,  with  a  logical  cogency  and  fervor  far 
beyond  any  declarations  ever  made  on  that  subject  prior 
to  that  time.  There  is  no  reason,  however,  to  assume 
that  Cicero's  spiritual  insight  was  keener  than  that  of 
Plato ;  the  explanation  of  his  advance  beyond  him  is  to  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  he  was  armed  with  the  magnificent 
conceptions  of  Stoicism  which  reached  its  maturity  long 
after  Plato's  time. 

Who  can  doubt  that  the  persistency  of  Cicero's  intel-   Cicero's 
lectual    influence    through    the    centuries    has    depended   a^^^*0 
largely  upon  its   spiritual  and  ethical  undertone  which   Christian 
impressed  itself  so  profoundly  upon  the  thought  of  the 
early  Christian  church?  It  is  impossible  to  ignore  the  fact 
that  during  the  years  immediately  preceding  the  advent 
of  Christianity  the  brilliant  and  earnest  expounder  of 
Roman  Stoicism  was  educating  the  peoples  of  the  Medi- 
terranean Basin  up  to  a  point  at  which  they  could  listen 
with  better  understanding  to  the  teachings  of  St.  Paul,    St.  Paul, 
who,  while  of  Jewish  descent,  was  a  Hellenist,  speaking  chrysippus, 
that  idiom  of  the  Grecian  Jews  in  which  his  letters  were 
written.     He  was  brought  up  at  Tarsus  in  the  province 
of  Cilicia,  the  native  country  of  the  famous  Stoic  Chry- 
sippus,  and  of  Aratus,  the  Greek  poet  of  Cilicia,  whom  he 
quotes.10 

In  his  Cilician  correspondence,  from  which  much  of  our 
best  information  as  to  the  state  of  the  Roman  provinces 
is  derived,  Cicero,  who  was  governor  of  Cilicia  about 
half  a  century  before  the  birth  of  St.  Paul,  speaks  in  very 
emphatic  terms  of  the  universal  extension  of  the  Greek 

10  Cf.  Conybeare  and  Howson,  The  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  pp.  19, 
note  1,  328,  note  4;  cf.  also,  "As  certain  also  of  your  own  poets  have  said, 
'For  we  are  also  His  offspring.'  "  —  Acts,  xvii,  28. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


St.  Paul's 

"Stoic 
ways  of 
thinking." 


Pantaenus, 
Clemens, 
and  Origenes. 


Minucius 
Felix. 


Lactantius. 


tongue  among  its  educated  classes.  It  is  beyond  all  ques- 
tion that  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  was  — 

....  steeped  in  Stoic  ways  of  thinking,  which  are  continually 
asserting  themselves  in  his  teaching  without  being  formally  recog- 
nized by  him  as  such ;  and  during  the  whole  of  the  second  century 
a.d.  men  trained  in  Stoic  principles  crowded  into  the  Christian 
community.  Within  it  they  felt  they  had  a  special  work  to  do  in 
building  up  Christian  doctrine  so  that  it  might  face  all  storms  of 
criticism.  This  effort  gradually  took  the  shape  of.  schools  modelled 
upon  those  of  the  philosophic  sects.  Such  a  school  was  founded  by 
an  ex-Stoic  named  Pantaenus  at  Alexandria  in  181  a.d.;  and  his 
successors  Clemens  of  Alexandria  (ob.  c.  215  a.d.)  and  Origines 
(c.  186-253  a.d.)  specially  devoted  themselves  to  developing  the 
theory  of  the  divine  nature  upon  Stoic  lines.  Not  all  the  particu- 
lars they  suggested  were  accepted  by  the  general  feeling  of  the 
Christian  body.11 

The  first,  perhaps,  among  the  truly  Christian  writers  to 
be  directly  influenced  by  Cicero  was  Minucius  Felix,  whose 
only  extant  work,  the  Octavius,  a  real  gem  of  early  Chris- 
tian literature,  embodies  a  dialogue  between  a  pagan  and 
a  Christian,  whose  form  is  modelled  on  the  De  Natura 
Deorum  and  the  De  Divinatione.  It  would  not  be  too 
much  to  say  that  this  first  product  of  Latin  literary 
Christianity  is  Ciceronian  in  its  order  and  distribution; 
Ciceronian  in  the  choice  and  use  of  the  dialogue  form; 
and  Ciceronian  in  its  thought  and  composition. 

Next  comes  Lactantius,  who,  from  the  beauty  of  his 
style,  has  been  called  the  "Christian  Cicero"  by  the 
humanists,  because  he  exhibits  many  of  the  defects  as  well 
as  the  graces  of  his  master.  In  his  works  —  especially  in 
the  De  Opificio  Dei,  in  the  treatise,  De  Ira  Dei,  which 
St.  Jerome  called  an  epitome  of  Cicero's  dialogue,  and 
in  his  great  work,  Divinarum  Institutionum  —  he  does  lit- 

11  Arnold,  pp.  414,  432. 


INTRODUCTION  9 

tie  more  than  paraphrase  his  pagan  teacher,  a  fact  recog- 
nized by  such  widely  divergent  mentalities  as  St.  Jerome, 
Prudentius,  Luther,  and  Kant. 

Despite  the  efforts  of  Tertullian  —  who  is  said  to  have  Tertullian. 
created  Christian  Latin  literature  in  a  Christian  Latin 
language  which  had  its  origin,  not  in  the  literary  language 
of  Rome  as  developed  by  Cicero,  but  in  the  language  of 
the  people  as  we  find  it  in  Plautus  and  Terence  —  to  stem 
the  tide  of  Ciceronian  influence  upon  Christian  thought, 
it  flowed  steadily  on  until  it  reached  the  high-water  mark 
in  the  writings  of  Sts.  Ambrose,  Augustine,  and  Jerome, 
the  three  great  Fathers  of  the  Latin  church. 

The  first  named,  the  famous  bishop  of  Milan,  clearly 
perceiving  that  in  the  new  Christian  literature  there  was 
the  lack  of  a  complete  and  harmonious  system  of  Chris-  St.Ambrose's 
tian  ethics,  undertook  to  supply  it  in  his  De  Officiis  Min-  eth-^ian 
istrorum,  modelled  without  disguise  upon  Cicero's  De 
Officiis.12  He  deviated,  however  from  the  original  by 
drawing  his  examples,  not  from  Roman  history  as  Cicero 
had  done,  but  from  the  Old  Testament,  ingeniously  sug- 
gesting in  that  way  that  all  the  wisdom  of  the  pagan  phi- 
losophers was  already  known  to  the  Patriarchs.  Unable 
to  free  himself  from  the  Stoic  elements  he  found  in  his 
pagan  model,  he  accepted  the  Stoic  distinction  between 
duties  and  offices,  and  the  four  cardinal  virtues  as  Cicero 
had  stated  them.  This  well-balanced  product  of  St. 
Ambrose's  later  years  was  prized  and  read  through  the 
entire  Middle  Ages. 

In  St.  Jerome,  the  contemporary  and  correspondent  of  St.  Jerome's 
the  bishop  of  Milan,  we  find  another  Ciceronian  who,  as     ream* 
a  teacher  of  the  classics  in  his  remote  monastery  at  Beth- 

12  In  his  work  De  Tobia,  St.  Ambrose  quotes  the  words  of  Cato  as  found 
in  Cicero's  De  Officiis,  ii,  circa  finem. 


tine. 


io  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

lehem,  gave  the  preference  to  his  favorite  author,  quot- 
ing him  constantly  and  lovingly  in  all  his  works,  which 
have  a  certain  classical  coloring  on  that  account.  After 
the  bitter  controversy  concerning  Origen,  his  enemy 
Rufinus  made  his  love  and  admiration  for  Cicero  one  of 
the  chief  accusations  against  him.13  That  accusation 
against  St.  Jerome  was  repeated,  however,  in  a  much  more 
serious  form,  as  he  tells  us  himself,  in  the  famous  dream14 
in  which  Christ  came  to  him  and  reproached  him  with 
caring  more  to  be  a  Ciceronian  than  a  Christian.  His 
response  was  a  resolve  to  devote  his  scholarship  exclu- 
sively to  the  Holy  Scripture.  "David  was  to  be  hence- 
forth his  Simonides,  Pindar,  and  Alcaeus,  his  Flaccus, 
Catullus,  and  Severus." 

St.  Augus-  A  still  more  famous  Ciceronian  is  to  be  found  in  St. 

Augustine,  whose  theological  position  and  influence  may 
be  said  to  be  unrivalled,  as  no  single  name  has  ever  exer- 
cised such  power  over  the  Christian  church,  as  no  single 
mind  has  ever  made  such  a  profound  impression  upon 
Christian  thought.  He  tells  us  that  one  day  he  came 
across  a  book  written  by  a  certain  Cicero  whose  tongue  all 
admire  but  whose  heart  and  soul  few  understand.  Cujus 
linguam  fere  omnes  mirantur,  pectus  non  ita.  That  book, 
containing  Cicero's  exhortation  to  the  study  of  philosophy 

Influence  of  and  called  Hortensius,  changed  the  whole  course  of  his 
life,  turning  his  thoughts  to  God  in  such  a  way  that  hence- 
forth his  wishes  and  desires  were  entirely  different  from 
what  they  had  been  before. 

How  did  I  then  burn,  my  God,  how  did  I  burn  to  remount  from 

13  Jerome,  Adversus  Rufinum,  i,  30. 

14"Itaque  miser  ego  lecturus  Tullium,  jejunabam.  Post  noctium 
crebras  vigilias,  post  Iacrymas,  quas  mihi  praeteritorum  recordatio  pecca- 
torum  ex  imis  visceribus  eruebat,  Plautus  sumebatur  in  manus."  The  dream, 
is  mentioned  in  the  twenty-second  letter  to  Eustochium. 


Hortensius. 


INTRODUCTION  n 

earthly  things  to  Thee,  nor  knew  I  what  Thou  wouldest  do  with 
me.     For  with  Thee  is  wisdom.     But  the  love  of  wisdom  is  in 

Greek  called  philosophy,  with  which  that  book  inflamed  me 

It  infused  into  me  not  only  its  style  but  its  matter.      [He  adds]  I 
was  delighted  with  that  exhortation,  so  far  only,  that  I  was  thereby 
strongly  roused  and  kindled  and  inflamed  to  love  and  seek  and    Contained 
obtain  and  hold  and  embrace  not  this  or  that  sect,  but  wisdom  itself   everything 
whatever  it  were;  and  this  alone  disappointed  me  thus  enkindled,    oi  c^rist 
that  the  name  of  Christ  was  not  in  it.15 

The  tremendous  impression  thus  made  upon  the  most 
potent  of  the  Christian  Fathers  by  Roman  Stoicism  in  the 
form  in  which  Cicero  had  restated  it  in  his  Hortensius, 
influenced  his  whole  life.  In  his  Soliloquies  (i,  10)  he  Soliloquies. 
attributes  to  Cicero's  influence  his  theory  concerning 
riches :  Prorsus  mihi  units  Ciceronis  liber  facillime  per- 
suasil  nullo  modo  appetendas  esse  divitias.  In  his  book 
De  Magislro  he  puts  him  above  all  other  Latin  writers : 
Quid  in  lingua  latina  excellentius  Cicerone  inveniri  potest? 
In  his  work  Contra  Academicos  (iii,  16)  he  says  that 
Cicero  is  the  indefatigable  educator  of  youth  toward 
virtue  and  truth,  declaring  at  the  same  time  that  he  is  the 
greatest  Roman  philosopher. 

It  is,  however,  in  his  most  elaborate  work,  The  City  of   The 
God,  designed  as  a  great  apologetic  treatise  in  vindica-   Ctty  °f  God- 
tion  of  Christianity  and  the  Christian  church  —  the  latter 
rising  in  the  form  of  a  new  civic  order  on  the  crumbling 
ruins  of  the  Roman  Empire  —  that  we  find  what  is  perhaps 
the  most  striking  illustration  of  Ciceronian  influence.     In 
that  work  St.  Augustine  gives  the  following  analysis  of  Analysis  of 
Cicero's  magnificent  disquisition  on  Political  Justice  as   t  "D   00 
contained  in  the  third  book  of  the  De  Republica,  designed  Republica. 

15  "Et  hoc  solum  me  in  tanta  flagrantia  refrangebat,  quod  nomen  Christi 
non  erat  ibi."  —  Augustine,  Confessions,  iii,  6.   Translation  by  E.  B.  Pusey. 


12  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

to  maintain  the  absolute  verity  of  the  priceless  proverb 
that  "Honesty  is  the  best  policy." 

In  the  third  book  of  Cicero's  Commonwealth  [St.  Augustine 
says]  the  question  of  Political  Justice  is  most  earnestly  discussed. 
Philus  is  appointed  to  support,  as  well  as  he  can,  the  sophistical 
arguments  of  those  who  think  that  political  government  can  not  be 
carried  on  without  the  aid  of  injustice  and  chicanery.  He  denies 
holding  any  such  opinion  himself ;  ye.t,  in  order  to  exhibit  the  truth 
more  vividly  through  the  force  of  contrast,  he  pleads  with  the 
utmost  ingenuity  the  cause  of  injustice  against  justice ;  and  endeav- 
ours to  show,  by  plausible  examples  and  specious  dialectics,  that 
injustice  is  as  useful  to  a  statesman  as  justice  would  be  injurious. 
Then  Laelius,  at  the  general  request,  takes  up  the  plea  for  justice, 
and  maintains  with  all  his  eloquence  that  nothing  could  be  so  ruin- 
ous to  states  as  injustice  and  dishonesty,  and  that  without  a  supreme 
justice,  no  political  government  could  expect  a  long  duration. 

This  point  being  sufficiently  proved,  Scipio  returns  to  the  prin- 
cipal discussion.  He  reproduces  and  enforces  the  short  definition 
that  he  had  given  of  the  Commonwealth  —  that  it  consisted  in  the 
welfare  of  the  entire  people,  by  which  word  "people"  he  does  not 
mean  the  mob,  but  the  community  bound  together  by  the  sense  of 
common  rights  and  mutual  benefits. 

He  notices  how  important  such  just  definitions  are  in  all  debates 
whatever,  and  draws  this  conclusion  from  the  preceding  arguments 
that  the  Commonwealth  is  the  common  welfare,  whenever  it  is 
swayed  with  justice  and  wisdom,  whether  it  be  subordinated  to  a 
king,  an  aristocracy,  or  a  democracy.  But  if  the  king  be  unjust, 
and  so  becomes  a  tyrant,  and  the  aristocracy  unjust,  which  makes 
them  a  faction,  or  the  democrats  unjust,  and  so  degenerate  into 
revolutionists  and  destructives  —  then  not  only  the  Commonwealth 
is  corrupted,  but  in  fact  annihilated.  For  it  can  be  no  longer  the 
common  welfare,  when  a  tyrant  or  a  faction  abuses  it;  and  the 
people  itself  is  no  longer  the  people  when  it  becomes  unjust,  since 
it  is  no  longer  a  community  associated  by  a  sense  of  right  and 
utility,  according  to  the  definition.16 

In  the  foregoing  we  have  a  most  important  aspect  of 

16  Augustine,  De  Civitate  Del,  in,  3-21. 


INTRODUCTION  13 

Stoic  ethics,   as    interpreted    by    Cicero,    analyzed    and   Stoic  ethics 
accepted  by  St.  Augustine  as  a  part  of  the  general  sub-   gtsrus"ture  of 
structure  upon  which  Christian  ethics  were  superimposed.    Christian 
In  the  history  of  the  transmutation  of  human  thought  few 
things  are  more  imposing  than  the  meeting  of  the  mind 
of  the  last  and  greatest  of  the  Roman  philosophers  of  the 
pagan  period  with  that  of  the  first  really  great  philosopher 
of  the  Latin  church.     The  chasm  to  be  bridged  was  nar- 
row, because  Stoic  ethics  as  developed  by  Cicero  were 
advancing  toward  the  standards  of  Christian  ethics  as 
developed  by  St.  Augustine. 

Great  as  was  the  influence  of  Roman  Stoicism  upon 
Christian  ethics  and  culture,   as  interpreted  by  Cicero, 
greater  still  was  its  influence  upon  Roman  law  which  drew   stoic  influ- 
its  scientific  form  as  world  law  from  the  Stoic  invention   *nce  on 

Roman 

known  as  the  law  of  nature.  Prior  to  the  creation  of  the  law. 
Stoic  ideal  of  a  world-state,  governed  by  permanent,  uni- 
form, and  universal  law  flowing  from  a  single  and 
supreme  God  as  its  source,  all  codes  were  looked  upon  as 
purely  local  creations,  belonging  exclusively  to  the  citizens 
of  the  city-states  that  adopted  them.  In  the  following 
chapter  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  explain  how  that 
primitive  and  narrow  conception  was  forced  to  yield  at 
Rome,  under  the  influence  of  Stoic  theory,  to  the  higher 
conception  embodied  in  the  jus  gentium,  which  Cicero  was 
the  first  to  describe  when  he  said  it  — 

....  is  not  to  be  one  law  for  Rome,  another  law  for  Athens,  one 
law  today,  another  law  tomorrow,  but  one  eternal  and  immutable 
law  for  all  nations  and  for  all  ages,  as  God  the  common  master 
and  ruler  of  all,  the  author,  the  interpreter,  the  enactor  of  law  is 
one.17 

When  we  estimate  the  number  and  scope  of  all  the 

(17  De  Repub.,  iii,  22. 


14 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Number 
and  scope 
of  Cicero's 
extant 
works. 


Inaccessible 
to  the  many. 


extant  works  of  Cicero,  embracing  as  they  do  the  orations, 
of  which  there  are  more  than  fifty;  the  philosophical  and 
literary  treatises,  the  principal  of  which  are:  De  Repub- 
lica,  De  Legibus,  De  Finibus,  De  Officiis,  De  Natura 
Deoriim,  De  Divinatione,  De  Oratore,  De  Claris  Ora- 
toribus,  Academica,  Tuscidanae  Dispntationes,  De  Senec- 
tute,  and  De  Amicitia;  and  the  correspondence  consisting 
of  nearly  a  thousand  letters,  it  is  hard  to  repress  the 
thought  that  the  sum  total  is  as  far  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  mass  of  mankind  as  if  it  did  not  exist  at  all. 

The  general  reader  must  ever  regard  the  works  of 
Cicero  even  as  Emerson  regarded  the  works  of  Goethe, 
seventy  volumes  in  all,  when,  in  one  of  his  charming  let- 
ters to  Carlyle,  he  said:  "Thirty-five  I  have  read,  but  to 
compass  the  other  thirty-five  I  can  not."  Works  so  exten- 
sive and  profound  as  those  of  Cicero  and  Goethe  can 
never  be  fully  explored  by  the  many;  they  can  be  viewed 
only  in  part  through  the  medium  of  an  anthology  whose 
well-selected  passages  should  be  made  to  reveal  from 
many  angles,  like  the  facets  of  a  diamond,  the  central 
light  within. 

When  we  take  into  account  Cicero's  wonderful  capacity 
for  condensation,  his  power  to  dramatize  thoughts,  the 
marvellous  faithfulness  and  fulness  of  his  revelations  of 
his  innermost  self,  the  mind  is  tempted  to  believe  that 
many  of  his  epigrammatic  utterances  were  specially  pre- 
pared as  short  messages  to  posterity.  Fame  has  cer- 
tainly secured  to  him  everything  except  an  anthology  for 
which  he  evidently  made  preparation.  While  gems  from 
the  works  of  the  gifted  son  of  ancient  Italy  have  for  ages 
been  scattered  like  stars  through  the  firmaments  of  all 
literatures,  in  no  language,  so  far  as  the  author  has  been 
able  to  ascertain,  is  there  any  separate  and  distinct  collec- 


INTRODUCTION  15 

tion  of  his  sayings,  apart  from  the  sayings  of  others,  that 
may  be  called  "The  Anthology  of  Cicero." 

Ruskin,  in  speaking  of  books  made  for  all  time,  has  Ruskin's 

Said:  comment  on 

books  made 

Books  of  this  kind  have  been  written  in  all  ages  by  their  greatest   for  a11  time- 

men  —  by  great  readers,  great  statesmen,  and  great  thinkers.    They 

are  all  at  your  choice ;  and  Life  is  short Thus  is  constituted 

a  society  continually  open  to  us  of  people  who  will  talk  to  us  as 

long  as  we  like,  whatever  our  rank  or  occupation  —  talk  to  us  in 

the  best  words  they  can  choose,  and  of  things  nearest  their  hearts.18 

Those  who  are  unwilling  to  burn  more  incense  to  the 
admitted  vanity  of  Cicero  by  erecting  a  throne  upon  which 
he  may  hold  a  perpetual  court,  as  does  Napoleon  under 
the  dome  of  the  Invalides,  may  be  comforted  by  the 
thought  that  we  may  humble  him  by  compelling  him  to 
stand,  hat  in  hand,  ever  ready  to  read  to  us  from  his 
anthology  his  choicest  and  only  his  choicest  thoughts, 
whenever  we  may  deign  to  grant  him  an  audience. 

In  his  History  of  English  Literature,  Taine  has  said: 

Under  every  shell  there  was  an  animal  and  beneath  every  docu-   Beneath 
ment  there  was  a  man.     Why  do  you  study  the  shell,  except  to   every  docu- 
represent  to  yourself  the  animal  ?     So  do  you  study  the  document  wag  a  man 
only  in  order  to  know  the  man.     The  shell  and  the  document  are 
lifeless  wrecks  valuable  only  as  a  clue  to  the  entire  and  living 
existence.19 

The  only  certain  clue  to  Cicero's  works  is  to  be  found 
in  the  man  considered  as  a  part  of  the  history  of  the 
Roman  Republic  at  a  time  when  the  primitive  machinery 
of  a  city-state  was  breaking  down  under  problems  imposed 
by  a  rapidly  growing  empire;  at  a  time  when  the  ancient 
and  archaic  Roman  code  was  being  superseded  by  the 
jus  gentium,  destined  to  transform  the  law  of  a  city  into 

18  John  Ruskin,  Sesame  and  Lilies,  pp.  52-57. 

19  Vol.  i,  p.  I, 


i6 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero 
"the  pen  and 
mirror  of 
a  great 
transition." 


a  "law  available  for  the  world  in  general;"20  at  a  time 
when  Greek  culture,  including  philosophy  of  the  Stoic 
brand,  was  illuminating  all  that  was  best  and  strongest  in 
Roman  life.  At  such  a  moment  Cicero  became  "the  pen 
and  mirror  of  a  great  transition  in  the  political  history  of 
the  Mediterranean  world."21 

It  is  therefore  necessary  that  "The  Sayings  of 
Cicero"  should  be  prefaced  by  such  a  sketch  of  the  man 
as  will  reveal  something  of  the  political  conditions  in  the 
midst  of  which  his  stormy  life  began  and  ended;  some- 
thing of  the  history  of  the  Roman  Law  and  Roman  bar  at 
the  time  when  his  forensic  triumphs  were  won;  something 
of  the  Greek  culture  in  philosophy  and  letters  which 
enabled  him  to  make  Latin  a  philosophical  language  ade- 
quate for  the  expression  of  his  thoughts  in  orations  and 
treatises.  A  great  authority  has  said:  "He  succeeded 
admirably  in  transcribing  the  current  ideas  of  the  Greek 
schools,  especially  those  of  the  Stoics,  in  a  language  far 
more  attractive  and  eloquent  than  that  of  his  post-Aristo- 
telian models." 22 

After  a  prolonged  and  patient  study  of  his  relations  to 
Roman  law,  both  on  the  theoretical  and  practical  sides, 
and  after  a  reasonably  thorough  examination  of  the  polit- 
ical and  literary  history  of  the  epochal  period  to  which 
he  belongs,  the  writer  has  attempted  to  draw,  within  rea- 
sonable limits,  the  picture  existing  in  his  own  mind  of 
Cicero  as  advocate,  scientific  jurist,  essayist,  philosopher, 
and  patriot,  which  he  undoubtedly  was.  In  that  way  an 
honest  effort  has  been  made  to  popularize  his  history  and 
works  among  people  of  the  world  who  have  neither  the 

20  Sohm,  p.  86. 

21  Sihler,  viii. 

22  Frederick  Pollock,  History  of  the  Science  of  Politics,  p.  31. 


INTRODUCTION  17 

time  nor  the  inclination  for  more  extended  research. 
Through  his  charming  eloquence,  oral  and  written,  he 
was  ever  striving  to  interest  busy  men  of  the  world  by 
turning  away  from  abstract  speculation  to  the  practical 
problems  of  life. 

In  studying  the  life  and  works  of  Cicero  we  should  Cicero 
never  forget  that  he  was  an  optimistic,  emotional  man,  as  a  Wlt* 
the  greatest  wit  of  his  time,  who  never  lost  a  chance  to 
make  either  a  pun  or  a  bon  mot.  He  was  obliged  to  com- 
plain, as  Mr.  Lincoln  might  have  complained,  that  all  the 
jokes  of  the  day  were  attributed  to  him,  including  the  bad 
ones.  Caesar  had  a  standing  order  that  all  of  his  flashes 
should  be  reported  to  him. 

Already  in  54  B.C.,  in  the  oration  for  Cnaeus  Plancius  we 
find  Cicero  complaining,  with  an  air  of  evident  self-satisfaction, 
that  it  was  the  fashion  to  attribute  to  him  the  jokes  that  gained  cur- 
rency in  Rome;  three  years  later  (Ad  Familiares  vii,  32)  he  play- 
fully charges  Volumnius  with  disloyalty  in  not  defending  his  repu-    His  charge 
tation  against  the  bons  mots,  "all  sayings  of  all  men,"  that  were  against 
being  circulated  in  his  name.     In  a  letter  to  Paetus   (Ad  Fam.      °  umnlu9' 
ix,  16)  we  are  told  that  Caesar  was  making  a  collection  of  apo- 
thegms, and  that,  when  sayings  of  Cicero  were  brought  to  him,  he 
professed  to  be  able  to  tell  —  by  the  ring  as  it  were  —  which  were 
genuine ;  another  collection  of  Cicero's  sayings  had  previously  been 
made  by  Trebonius  (Ad  Fam.  xv,  21;  47  B.C.).23 

The  collection  of  Cicero's  witticisms,  arranged  in  three  Collection  of 
books  and  circulated  after  his  death,  is  supposed  by  some  ™lttK;lsm» 

r  r  J  circulated 

to  have  been  the  work  of  his  very  astute  secretary  and  lit-  after  his 
erary  executor,  Tiro  —  an  assumption  weakened,  however,   death' 
by  the  fact  that  Quintilian,  who  used  it,  expressed  regret 
that  the  number  preserved  had  not  been  diminished  by  a 
more  judicious  editing.     Such  is  undoubtedly  the  source 

23  "Cicero  as  a  Wit,"  by  F.  W.  Kelsey  in  The  Classical  Journal  for 
November,  1907,  p.  7  (The  University  of  Chicago  Press). 


18  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

of  fifty  or  more  witticisms  attributed  to  Cicero,  but  not 
found  in  his  works,  which  have  been  preserved  by  Plu- 
tarch, Quintilian,  and  Macrobius,24  the  last  of  whom  says 
that  Plautus  and  Cicero  surpassed  all  of  their  contempo- 
raries in  the  quality  of  their  jokes.23  It  is  a  comfort  to 
know  that  the  great  orator  was  always  ready  to  enjoy  a 
joke  at  his  own  expense;  and,  if  he  was  vain,  it  was  "the 
vanity  of  the  peacock,  not  of  the  gander."  All  admit  that 
while  he  was  vain  and  fond  of  praise,  from  envy  he  was 
absolutely  free.  He  had  a  very  warm  heart,  and  there 
never  was  a  better  friend.  He  was  too  proud  to  be 
jealous  of  any  man's  reputation,  and  in  his  maturer  years 
he  became  more  appreciative  of  younger  men  like  Brutus 
and  Octavius. 

His  life,  like  every  other,  was  moulded  largely  by  his 
environment.  He  looked  to  Greece  for  his  culture  be- 
cause there  was  no  other  available.  Apart  from  some 
indifferent  productions  by  obscure  Epicureans  he  despised, 
and  the  poem  of  Lucretius,  there  were  then  in  Latin  no 
manuals  of  philosophy  or  of  philosophical  writings.  He 
Inventor  of  a  was  therefore  compelled  to  invent  a  philosophical  termi- 

philosophical  noi0gry  for  the  Romans,  and  to  prepare  a  series  of  man- 
terminology.        .       .  .  .    .  ,...,...  ,  .  ,       . 

uals  which,  by  reason  or  their  lucidity  and  beauty  or  style, 

are  for  all  time.    He  was,  by  nature,  prone  to  philosophy, 
which  he  tells  us  is  "the  fountain  head  of  all  true  elo- 
quence, the  mother  of  all  good  deeds  and  good  works." 
Not  until  after  he  had  begun  life  as  a  writer  on  rhetoric 

24  Macrobius,  Saturnalia,  iii,  i,  10.  For  the  witticisms  attributed  to 
Cicero,  but  not  found  in  his  works,  see  the  Fragmenta  in  the  editions  of 
Cicero's  works  by  Baiter  and  Kayser  (vol.  xi)  and  C.  F.  W.  Mueller 
(pt.  iv,  vol.  iii). 

25  "The  essence  of  Latinity  is  to  be  found  not  so  much  in  the  epic  or  lyric 
poet  as  in  the  comedies  of  Plautus  and  the  letters  of  Cicero."  —  Herbert 
Paul  in  Men  and  Letters,  p.  246. 

26  Cicero,  Brutus,  s'vve  de  Claris  Oratoribus,  93. 


INTRODUCTION  19 

did  he  begin  his  career  as  an  advocate,  thus  producing  the 
immortal  orations  that  soon  made  him  the  leader  of  the 
Roman  bar.  The  prestige  thus  won  opened  the  way  to 
political  preferment  and  the  holding  of  office  as  quaestor, 
curule  aedile,  praetor,  and  consul.  After  such  an  expe- 
rience he  again  took  up  his  pen  and  produced  such  works 
on  government  and  law  as  the  De  Republica  and  De 
Legibus,  in  the  first  of  which  is  contained  an  invaluable  His  inval- 
history  of  the  Roman  constitution.     As  a  sidelight  we  ua    e, corre" 

'  °  spondence. 

have  for  years  the  invaluable  correspondence  without 
which  a  large  section  of  Roman  history  would  be  almost 
a  blank.  Above  it  all  broods  the  predominating  influence 
of  the  Stoic  philosophy  which  made  an  indelible  impress 
upon  every  kind  of  Roman  thinking  connected  with  gov- 
ernment, law,  and  morals.  The  narrative  has  been  so 
arranged  as  to  reveal  the  processes  through  which  his 
works  grew  out  of  the  actual  conditions  and  experiences 
of  his  eventful  life. 

No  sketch  of  Cicero's  life,  as  a  summary  of  his  acts,  Necessity 
can  be  at  all  complete  unless  supplemented  by  an  anthol-  °^ha" 
ogy,  as  a  summary  of  his  thoughts,  whose  breadth  and 
depth  can  be  measured  only  when  viewed  through  speci- 
mens presenting  them  as  a  connected  whole.  It  is  not  an 
exaggeration  to  say  that  just  before  the  expiring  paganism 
of  Greece  and  Rome  breathed  its  last,  Cicero  made  a 
complete  inventory  of  its  thoughts  and  feelings,  which  he 
so  embalmed  as  to  make  it  possible  for  us  to  transform  a 
dead  past  into  a  living  present.  Ample  proof  of  that 
assertion  may  be  found  in  the  anthology  containing  the 
epigrams  through  which  he  speaks  the  thought  of  the 
ancient  world  as  to  almost  every  subject  involved  in 
human  life. 

The  purpose  of  the  sketch  is  to  state,  within  narrow 


20  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

limits,  the  essence  of  what  Cicero  did;  the  purpose  of  the 
anthology  is  to  state,  within  narrow  limits,  the  essence  of 
what  he  said.  Only  with  the  aid  of  both  can  we  know  the 
man.  In  collecting  and  arranging  the  sayings  of  Cicero,  the 
common  property  of  everybody,  in  a  compilation  which 
may  be  called  for  the  first  time  the  Anthology  of  Cicero, 
my  daughter  and  myself  have  worked  together;  and  our 
hope  is  that  we  have  made  a  good  beginning  that  will  be 
enlarged  by  other  hands  as  time  goes  on. 

After  putting  together  everything  to  be  found  in  the 
dictionaries  of  classical  quotations  and  other  collections, 
such  as  those  of  the  Abbe  d'Olivet,  Ramage,  Harbottle, 
and  Brown,  with  translations  taken  from  the  best  ver- 
sions, an  effort  has  been  made  to  widen  and  systematize 
the  materials  thus  obtained  by  our  own  investigations 
and  those  of  a  few  eminent  scholars  who  have  been  good 
enough  to  aid  us  in  the  task. 


CHAPTER  II 

STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW 

The  genius  of  the  Greeks  broke  down  at  the  threshold  Failure  of 
of  law  in  the  higher  sense  of  that  term.     If  they  had  ^'-id, 
succeeded  in  building  up  an  extensive  and  powerful  em-  philosophy 
pire,  the  outcome  might  have  been  a  great  codification 
that  would  have  rendered  the  compilations  of  Justinian 
unnecessary.      But  the   fact  is  that  no  such  thing  hap- 
pened.    The  Greeks  left  behind  them  no  complete  or 
imposing  legal  monuments;  they  produced  nothing  which, 
in  any  proper  sense,  could  be  called  a  philosophy  of  law. 
After  every  advance  made,  either  upon  the  practical  or 
theoretical  side,  in  the  effort  to  establish  anything  like  a 
science  of  positive  law  has  been  estimated  at  its  full  value, 
the  fact  remains  that  no  such  result  was  attained.     It  is 
hard  to  negative  the  assertion  that  neither  the  Greeks 
themselves  nor  any  society  thinking  or  speaking  in  their 
language  ever  developed  the  smallest  capacity  for  pro- 
ducing a  philosophic  system  of  jurisprudence.1     It  was  jurispru- 
reserved  for  the  Romans  to  present  to  the  world  the  tence  a 

r  ^  Roman 

science  of  positive  law  as  an  original  contribution.    Juris-  creation. 

1  Of  their  conceptions  of  law  and  procedure  we  can  only  catch  glimpses 
from  the  Homeric  poems,  from  the  fragments  that  remain  of  the  Hellenic 
codes,  from  the  details  of  law  and  practice  found  in  the  orations  of  Demos- 
thenes and  other  Greek  orators,  from  what  Plato  tells  us  in  the  Dialogues, 
the  Republic,  and  the  Laws,  from  the  fragments  of  a  legal  treatise  by 
Theophrastus,  referred  to  in  the  first  book  of  the  Digest  of  Justinian,  and 
from  the  outlines  of  public  law  to  be  traced  in  the  Politics  of  Aristotle. 
See  Rudolphe  Dareste,  La  Science  du  Droit  en  Grece,  Platon,  Aristote, 
Theopnraste,  Paris,  1893;  Pollock  and  Maitland,  History  of  English  Law, 
Introd.,  p.  xxvii. 

21 


22 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Roman  law 
as  a  factor  in 
civilization. 


As  an 
element  in 
English  law. 


Grotius 
and  the 
jus  gentium. 


prudence  is  strictly  a  Roman  creation  —  as  an  immor- 
tality it  has  survived  the  wreck  of  the  Empire. 

Next  to  the  Christian  religion,  Roman  law  is  certainly 
the  most  potent  factor  that  has  entered  into  modern  civi- 
lization. After  all  fair  deductions  have  been  made  in 
favor  of  the  spheres  occupied  by  the  Chinese,  Moham- 
medan, and  Hindu  law  systems,  the  fact  remains  that 
the  Roman  and  English  law  systems  now  cover  nearly 
the  whole  of  the  civilized  and  most  of  the  uncivilized 
world,  the  area  occupied  by  Roman  law  and  its  depend- 
encies being  the  wider  of  the  two.2 

But  that  statement  must  be  supplemented  by  the  all- 
important  fact  that  England  can  not  fairly  be  said  to 
have  an  indigenous  system  of  private  law  all  her  own, 
enriched  as  it  has  been,  in  all  its  vital  parts,  from  Roman 
sources.  Even  laymen  know  that  the  systems  of  English 
equity  and  admiralty  were  derived  from  Roman  law  in 
its  civil  form,  just  as  the  systems  for  the  administration 
of  estates,  wills,  and  guardianships  were  derived  from 
Roman  law  in  its  canonical  form.  And  from  the  same 
fountain  was  drawn  the  entire  substructure  of  interna- 
tional law. 

The  epoch-making  work  of  Grotius,  brilliant  as  it  was, 
simply  involved  an  application  of  one  branch  of  Roman 
private  law  known  as  the  jus  gentium  —  the  law  common 
to  all  nations  —  to  states  instead  of  individuals.  If  he 
was  a  genius,  as  he  undoubtedly  was,  his  genius  con- 
sisted entirely  of  his  ability  to  extract  from  that  body 
of  rules  known  as  the  jus  gentium,  applied  by  the  Ro- 
mans only  between  man  and  man,  a  code  adequate  for 
the   regulation  of  the   relations  between   the   Christian 

2  For  a  more  complete  statement,  see  the  author's  Science  of  Jurispru- 
dence, pp.  45-46. 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW  23 

states  of  Western  Europe  after  the  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire had  ceased  to  be  an  international  bond  between 
them.3 

If  it  be  true  that  that  refined  and  philosophic  deposit, 
fabricated  by  the  Roman  jurisconsults  and  known  as  the 
jus  gentium,  is  the  source  from  which  have  been  derived 
not  only  all  the  finer  parts  of  the  private  law  of  the  civ- 
ilized world,  no  matter  whether  English  or  Roman,  but 
also  the  existing  law  of  nations,  then  no  argument  should 
be  necessary  to  prove  that  the  history  of  its  making  is 
supremely  important.  As  Cicero  is  connected  in  a  very  Cicero 
conspicuous  way  with  that  history,  the  purpose  of  this  ?n  *  * . . 
introductory  chapter  will  be  to  draw  out,  within  narrow 
limits,  the  marvelous  process  of  evolution  out  of  which 
the  jus  gentium  emerged. 

Throughout  the  Mediterranean  world  the  dominant 
form  of  political  organization  was  the  city-state  which,  as  city-state  as 
defined  by  Aristotle,  was  a  society  of  men  dwelling  in  a  Aeri"totl  y 
walled  city,  with  a  surrounding  territory  not  too  large 
to  allow  its  free  inhabitants  habitually  to  assemble  within 
it  to  discharge  the  duties  of  citizens.4  Every  city-state 
had  its  customary  law,  the  blended  product  of  religious 
and  secular  elements,  which  regulated  within  its  limits 
persons  in  family,  clan,  and  tribe,  and  things  in  the  same 
relation  and  jurisdiction. 

Along  the  Mediterranean  seaboard  the  customary  law 
of  each  city-state  steadily  developed  down  to  that  epoch 
at  which  it  was  transformed  into  a  written  code  of  that 
type  which  appeared  in  Greece,  Italy,  and  on  the  Hel- 
lenized  coast  of  Asia  at  periods  similar  in  respect  to  the 

3  See  the  author's  International  Public  La<w,  pp.  30,  78-81. 

4  Aristotle  thought  that  a  state  should  not  be  too  large  to  deny  to  its 
citizens  the  opportunity  to  become  familiar  with  each  other.  'Avayicalov 
fvupl^eiv  d\\7j\oi>s(  7roto:  rives  etfft,  tovs  iroXtras.  —  Politics,  vii,  4,  13. 


24 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Class  of 
codes  to 
which  the 
Twelve 
Tables 
belonged. 


Rome  as  a 

commercial 

metropolis. 


relative  progress  of  each  community.5  It  was  to  that 
class  of  codes  that  the  Twelve  Tables  of  Rome  belonged, 
the  first  codification  of  the  jus  civile,  the  local  law  of  the 
city,  administered  by  the  city  judge,  praetor  urbanus,  only 
between  Roman  and  Roman.  As  there  was  a  religious 
element  in  all  such  archaic  law  it  could  not  be  applied  to 
a  foreigner.  If,  in  the  early  days,  a  foreigner  settled 
at  Rome  he  could  not  bring  the  law  of  his  own  city  with 
him;  and  he  could  have  no  possible  participation  in  the 
law  of  Rome,  because  that  was  the  exclusive  property  of 
her  own  citizens. 

Such  was  the  rule  when  Rome  began  to  grow  into  the 
commercial  metropolis  of  the  Mediterranean  Basin,  a 
station  to  which  she  was  predestined  by  her  geographical 
position.     Camillus  is  reported  to  have  said: 

Not  without  reason  did  the  gods  and  men  select  this  site  for 
the  foundation  of  Rome — healthful  hills,  a  convenient  river 
equally  adapted  to  maritime  and  inland  trade,  the  sea  not  too 
far  off  to  present  an  active  international  commerce,  nor  so  near 
as  to  expose  the  city  to  a  sudden  attack  from  foreign  vessels;  a 
site  in  the  center  of  the  peninsula,  a  situation  made,  as  it  were, 
on  purpose  to  allow  the  city  to  become  the  greatest  in  the 
world.6 

Again,  in  the  equally  graphic  words  of  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons: 

Rome's  happy  position  and  its  climate,  no  less  than  the  rude 
and  simple  virtues  of  its  first  inhabitants,  made  it  one  day  the 
mistress  of  the  world's  most  historic  peninsula.  The  story  of  her 
political  growth  fascinates  us  forever,  as  it  did  Polybius  and  St. 
Augustine.  The  very  wreckage  of  her  splendor,  palaces,  baths, 
porticos,   theaters,   obelisks,   arches,   still  encumbers   the  sites   of 

5  As  to  these  early  codes,  see  Sir  Henry  S.  Maine,  Ancient  Law,  pp.  13-20 
(a  work  which  cannot  be  overpraised),  and  Pollock,  Introduction  and  Notes 
to  Maine's  Ancient  Law,  pp.  4-7. 

0  Livy,  History,  v,  354. 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW  25 

departed  greatness,  and  our  eyes  may  richly  feast  on  the  sites 
where  Cicero  spoke  to  the  masters  of  this  earth,  and  where  Augus- 
tus ruled  with  firm  hand  the  enormous  mass  of  empire  that  God 
had  permitted  gradually  to  coalesce  around  the  Mediterranean 
into  a  compact  unity,  the  divinely  preordained  basis  and  condi- 
tions of  the  new  spiritual  empire  that  was  to  rise  amid  the  ruins 
of  its  political  forerunner  and  herald.7 

The  result  of  such  a  favored  situation  was  an  influx  of 
foreigners  to  Rome  whose  need  of  law  compelled  as 
early  as  242  B.C.8  the  appointment  of  the  -praetor  pere-  The  praetor 

,  r  e  ,  ,  •    1  perearinus. 

grinus,  the  praetor  or  foreigners,  whose  duty  it  became  to 
administer  justice  between  Roman  citizens  and  foreigners 
and  between  citizens  of  different  cities  within  the  Empire.9 
As  such  praetor  could  not  rely  upon  the  law  of  any  one 
city  for  the  criteria  of  his  judgments,  he  naturally  turned 
his  eyes  to  the  codes  of  all  the  cities  from  which  came  the 
swarm  of  litigants  before  him. 

While  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  Italic  cities  were,  no 
doubt,  similar  to  those  of  Rome  herself,  those  of  the 
Egyptians,  Carthaginians,  and  Syrians  were  marked  by 
many  features  of  their  own.  Between  the  two  extremes 
stood  the  best  standards  of  comparison  in  the  laws  and 
customs  of  the  Greek  cities  which,  while  varying  a  good 
deal  in  detail  from  city  to  city,  seem  to  have  borne  a  fam- 
ily resemblance  to  one  another.  Thus  we  encounter  what  jus  gentium 
is  perhaps  the  earliest  application  of  Comparative  Law,  ^/q^  ^3. 
employed  by  the  praetor  peregrinus  for  the  purpose  of  tiveLaw. 

7  Roma,  preface,  5. 

8  The  date  is  not  absolutely  certain.  Livy  (Epitome  19)  says  it  was  512; 
Lydus  (De  M agister,  i,  38,  45)  says  it  was  207  U.C.,  which  corresponds  to 
510  of  the  Varronean  era. 

9  Every  alien,  i.e.,  non-citizen,  was,  as  such,  absolutely  barred  from  the 
use  of  any  of  the  formal  juristic  acts  of  early  Roman  law.  Pomponius  tells 
us  that  the  new  magistrate  derived  his  title  from  the  fact  that  his  principal 
duty  was  to  administer  justice  to  the  increasing  peregrin  population. — 
Digest,  i,  2,  2,  28. 


26 


Theory  of 
natural  law 
a  Stoic  in- 
vention. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

extracting  from  the  codes  of  all  the  nations  with  which  the 
Romans  were  brought  into  commercial  contact  a  body  of 
principles  common  to  all  which,  when  fused  into  one  code, 
could  be  called  "the  law  of  the  nations,"  i.  e.,  law  common 
to  all  nations — jus  gentium.10  Before  this  new  plant,  the 
product  of  the  comparative  process,  reached  its  maturity 
it  was  fertilized  and  developed  under  the  inspiration  of  a 
theory  drawn  by  the  Roman  jurisconsults  from  a  foreign 
source. 

A  century  or  more  before  the  fall  of  the  Republic  the 
intellectual  life  of  Rome  had  passed  under  the  dominion 
of  her  subjects  in  Attica  and  Peloponnesus,  just  after  they 
had  yielded  to  the  ascendency  of  the  Stoic  philosophers 
who  were  ever  striving  to  discover  in  the  operations  of 
nature,  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual,  some  uniform 
and  universal  force  pervading  all  things  that  could  be 
designated  as  the  law  of  nature  —  the  embodiment  of  uni- 
versal reason.  With  the  growth  of  the  dominion  of  Rome 
and  the  consequent  necessity  for  the  extension  of  the  code 
of  a  single  city  to  many  cities,  there  was  a  natural  craving 
for  the  discovery  of  legal  principles  capable  of  universal 
application.  In  response  to  such  a  demand  Comparative 
Law  collected  the  data,  in  the  manner  heretofore  pointed 
out,  and  Stoic  philosophy  supplied  the  theory  upon  which 
such  data  were  worked  into  the  new  creation  known  as  the 
jus  gentium  —  the  common  reservoir  from  which  have 
been  drawn  all  of  the  finer  principles  of  modern  jurispru- 
dence, in  all  codes,  national  and  international. 

Before  the  close  of  the  fourth  century  B.  c,  Greek  phi- 
losophy had  reached  its  zenith  in  Plato  and  Aristotle.    In 

10  It  is  clear  that  such  a  conception  was  well  defined  as  early  as  the 
second  century  B.C.  —  De  Off.,  ill,  69-171.  Cf.  Professor  Nettleship,  on  "Jus 
Gentium,"  Journal  of  Philology,  xiii,  169;  Voigt,  Das  Jus  Naturale,  passim; 
Bryce,  Studies  in  History  and  Jurisprudence,  pp.  583-84. 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW  27 

their  hands  the  Socratic  theory  of  conceptions  had  reached  Zenith  of 
its  most  perfect  development  through  the  grouping  around  ,  ree,  p. l" 

r  r  e>  e         r      »  losophy  in 

definite  centers  of  the  entire  range  of  contemporary  knowl-  Plato  and 
edge,  thus  affording  a  connected  view  of  the  world  as  a 
whole.  Searching  inquiries  into  morals  had  supplemented 
the  study  of  nature,  while  natural  science  itself  in  all  its 
branches  had  been  materially  enlarged.  More  important 
still,  idealism,  the  most  complete  and  characteristic  expres- 
sion of  the  intellectual  life  of  Greece,  as  interpreted  by 
the  genius  of  Plato,  had  been  harmonized  with  experience 
by  Aristotle,  who,  through  the  union  of  theory  with  prac- 
tice, had  made  constructive  criticism  an  art. 

But  that  golden  age  of  intellectual  splendor  was  short- 
lived.    Greek  philosophy,  like  Greek  art,  being  the  off-    Decline  after 
spring  of  political  freedom,  declined  with  its  loss.      First  t0eiit°*aJ> 
came  the  blight  of  the  Macedonian  supremacy;  by  the   freedom, 
battle  of  Chaeronea  (338  B.C.)  the  doom  of  Greece  was 
sealed;  all  attempts  made  by  her  to  throw  off  that  yoke 
ended  in  defeat.     The  Macedonian  overlordship  was  to 
yield  only  to  that  of  Rome;  and  when  in  146  B.C.  the 
province  of  Achaia  was  incorporated  under  Roman  rule 
the  last  hope  of  freedom  passed  away  forever.    The  com- 
pensation was  in  the  fact  that  with  the  sweeping  away  of 
national  independence,  barriers  between  nations  had  been 
broken  down.     By  the  concentration  in  large  empires  of  Creation 
East  and  West,  Greeks,   Romans,  and  barbarians  were   °    a.rgc 

'  '  '  empires. 

united  and  brought  into  closer  contact  upon  every  point. 
Under  such  conditions, 

Philosophy  might  teach  that  all  men  were  of  one  blood,  that  all 
were  equally  citizens  of  one  empire,  that  morality  rested  on  the 
relation  of  man  to  his  fellowmen,  independently  of  nationalities 
and  of  social  ranks;  but  in  so  doing  she  was  only  explicitly  stat- 


28 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Conquests  of 
Alexander. 


Effect  of 
political  and 
geographical 
changes  on 
philosophic 
thought. 


Philosophy 
takes  the 
place  of 
religion. 


ing  truths  which  had  been  already  realized  in  part,  and  which 
were  in  part  corollaries  from  the  existing  state  of  society.11 

While  extending  Hellenism  to  the  farthest  East,  the 
conquests  of  Alexander  had  shattered  the  old  order  of 
the  Greek  world  and  made  way  for  the  new  order  of  vast 
territorial  kingdoms  destined  eventually  to  be  swallowed 
up  in  the  Roman  Empire.  And  so,  as  the  city-state  with 
its  narrow  horizon  sank  into  the  larger  territorial 
aggregates,  nationality  naturally  tended  to  become  cos- 
mopolitan. 

By  such  political  and  geographical  changes  the  course 
of  philosophic  thought  was  profoundly  changed.  The 
political  and  ethical  theories  of  Plato  and  Aristotle  were 
based  upon  the  free  and  independent  life  of  small  civic 
communities  in  which  the  mind  of  the  unfettered  freeman 
boldly  attacked  every  intellectual  problem,  without  regard 
to  the  ulterior  consequences.  It  is  not,  therefore,  strange 
that  to  the  mental  powers  of  the  Greek  the  loss  of 
political  independence  was  a  staggering  blow.  With  the 
loosening  of  the  ties  of  civil  and  local  patriotism  in 
the  fatherland,  and  with  the  corresponding  change  thus 
wrought  in  the  position  of  the  individual,  his  tendency 
was  to  withdraw  within  himself,  and,  by  ignoring  the 
strife  raging  without,  to  make  happiness  behind  the  bar- 
riers of  his  own  inner  life  depend  upon  his  inward  state 
alone. 

As  the  old  belief  in  the  gods  was  gone,  the  place  of 
religion  must  be  supplied  by  philosophy,  not  of  a  theo- 
retical and  unfruitful  kind,  but  of  such  a  practical  kind 
as  could  supply  moral  uprightness  and  moral  strength. 
In  the  midst  of  such  conditions  it  was  Zeno  who  caught 

11  Edward  Zeller,  Stoics,  Epicureans,  and  Sceptics,  pp.  i-i8,  Reichel's 
trans. 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW  29 

the  practical  spirit  of  his  age  —  the  desire  for  a  popular 
philosophy  to  meet  individual  needs.  In  all  he  and  the 
older  Stoics  taught  there  breathes  an  enthusiasm  for 
righteousness  in  which  has  been  traced  the  earnestness 
of  the  Semitic  spirit.11*  The  Macedonian  ascendency, 
while  dealing  a  death  blow  to  the  independence  of  Greece, 
had  as  a  compensation  opened  up  a  new  world  in  which 
her  energies  and  her  thoughts  could  expand,  securing — 

....  for  her  culture  the  place  of  honor  among  the  nations  of 
the  East,  but  producing  at  the  same  time  a  tardy,  but,  in  the  long 
run,  important  back-current  of  Oriental  thought,  traces  of  which 

appear  in  the  philosophy  of  Greece  a  few  centuries  later 

A  striking  feature  in  the  history  of  the  post-Aristotelian  philosophy, 
and  one  which  at  the  same  time  brings  forcibly  home  to  us  the  Mingling  of 
thorough  change  of  all  circumstances,  is  the  fact  that  so  many  of  ^r.eek  a.nd 
its  representatives  come  from  eastern  countries  in  which  vjreek  and  modes  0f 
Oriental  modes  of  thought  met  and  mingled.12  thought. 

Zeno,  the  founder  of  Stoicism,  a  native  of  Citium,13  a  Zenothe 
Greek  colony  in  Cyprus,14  removed  to  Athens  about  320  stoicism. 
B.C.,  and,  after  a  long  course  of  intellectual  prepara- 
tion, appeared  as  a  teacher,  probably  soon  after  the  be- 
ginning of  the  third  century.  His  followers,  called  at 
first  Zenonians,  were  afterward  known  as  Stoics  from 
the  Stoa,  UoikIXyj  2roa,  "Painted  Porch,"  the  place  selected 
by  the  master  for  the  delivery  of  his  discourses. 

Although  he  lived  and  taught  at  Athens,  his  youth  was  spent  in 
a  city  that  was  half  Phoenician,  and  many  of  his  most  distin- 

lla  "Stoicism,  like  Christianity,  was  primarily  a  religion  for  the  oppressed, 
a  religion  of  defense  and  defiance;  but,  like  Christianity,  it  had  the  requisite 
power  of  adaptation." — Gilbert  Murray,  The  Stoic  Philosophy,  1915. 

12Zeller,  pp.  14,  36. 

13  The  dates  in  his  life  are  very  uncertain.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
thirty  when  he  arrived  at  Athens.  —  Diog.,  2. 

14  Alongside  of  the  old  Greek  population  Phoenician  emigrants  had 
settled,  hence  its  inhabitants  are  sometimes  called  e  Phoenicia  profecti 
(De  Fin.,  iv,  20,  56),  and  Zeno  is  himself  called  a  Phoenician  (Diog.,  vii,  3, 
»5>25,  30;  ii,  114). 


3o 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Character 
istics  of 
the  system 


guished  followers  had  a  like  association  with  the  eastern  world. 
The  system  deals  with  all  the  great  themes  touched  upon  by 
Chaldaism,  Persism,  and  Buddhism.  Like  the  first,  it  insists 
that  there  exists  an  unchanging  Destiny,  according  to  which 
events  throughout  the  universe  are  predetermined  from  eternity. 
Like  the  second,  it  sets  up  as  claiming  the  worship  and  allegiance 
of  men  a  Supreme  Deity,  who  governs  the  world  with  boundless 
power  and  benevolent  will,  and  is  manifested  to  men  as  the  Logos 
or  "divine  Word."  ....  In  its  practical  ethics,  though  it  does 
not  advocate  the  suppression  of  all  desires,  it  so  far  agrees  with 
Buddhism  as  to  hold  that  happiness  is  only  found  in  the  subor- 
dination of  individual  claims  to  the  voice  of  universal  reason. 
Finally,  its  teachers  are  actively  engaged  in  propagating  its  doc- 
trines and  guiding  its  disciples.  Stoicism  has,  in  short,  the  inward 
and  outward  characteristics  of  the  other  great  movements  we 
have  described,  and  may  claim  without  presumption  to  be  reck- 
oned amongst  the  world-religions All  the  terms  commonly 

used  in  association  with  a  personal  deity  are  adopted  by  the  Stoics : 
their  god  is  Lord  and  Father Further,  besides  the  per- 
sonal and  the  material  conceptions  of  the  Deity,  they  adopted 
and  developed  a  conception  which  exercised  an  extraordinary 
influence  over  other  systems,  when  they  attributed  the  exercise 
of  all  the  powers  of  deity  to  the  divine  Word,  which  from  one 
point  of  view  is  the  deity  itself,  and  from  another  is  something 
which  emanates  from  him  and  is  in  some  way  distinct.15 

The  key  to  the  new  system,  based  really  upon  the  mag- 
Magnificent  nificent  notion  of  a  single  God,  who  is  Lord  and  Father, 
is  to  be  found  in  Zeno's  first  book,  the  UoXirua,  or 
Republic,  evidently  a  counterblast  to  the  work  of  the 
same  name  by  Plato,16  whose  political  theories  always 
presuppose  the  existence  of  small  civic  communities 
divided  by  convention  into  classes.  Discarding  the  olc 
and  grasping  the  new  conception  of  political  organiza- 
tion, represented  by  large  empires  in  which  the  barriers 


notion  of  a 
single  God. 


15  Arnold,  pp.  17-19,  66. 
is  &i>Teypa\f/e  wpbs  rr\v  TlXarcwos  JldKirelav. 
von  Arnim,  i,  260). 


•Plut.  Sto.  Rep.,  8,  2  (Hans 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW  31 

were  broken  down  between  local  communities,  Zeno's 
ideal  state  was  made  to  embrace  the  whole  world  in  such 
a  way  that  a  man  may  no  longer  say  "I  am  of  Sidon," 
or  "I  am  of  Athens,"  but  "I  am  a  citizen  of  the  world," 
who,  sweeping  away  all  distinctions  between  Greeks  and 
barbarians,  recognizes  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the 
fatherhood  of  God. 

The  root-principle  of  the  Stoic  state  is  that  it  is  world-wide,  Stoic  state  a 
a  cosmopolis.  This  title  arose  from  the  practice,  attributed  to  cosmoP°»s. 
Socrates  and  Diogenes  (as  well  as  others)  of  replying  to  the  current 
question,  "Of  what  city  are  you  ?"  by  the  answer,  "Of  the  universe." 
We  must  therefore  regard  ourselves  as  members  not  of  a  clan  or 
city,  but  of  a  world-wide  society.  In  this  society  all  distinctions 
of  race,  caste,  and  class  are  to  be  subordinated  to  the  sense  of 
kinship  and  brotherhood.17 

Zeno's  world-state  was  subject  to  the  reign  of  law;  the 
bond  of  cohesion  was  the  Logos  (ratio  atque  oratio).18 
Reason  and  the  universal  law  exist  in  the  community 
from  the  beginning.  The  eternal  Wisdom,  through 
which  the  primal  matter  took  shape,  is,  in  another  aspect, 
the  Right  Rule  (6p0os  Ao'yos,  vera  ratio)  which  commands 
and  forbids.  "If  there  is  a  universe,  then  there  is  a  Theuni- 
universal  law,  forbidding  us  to  do  this  and  refrain  from 
that."    Or,  to  put  it  in  another  way, 

When  regarded  as  the  groundwork  of  natural  formations,  this 
primary  Being  or  general  law  is  called  Nature;  but  when  it 
appears  as  the  cause  of  the  orderly  arrangement  and  development 
of  the  world,  it  is  known  as  Providence;  or  in  language  less  tech- 

17  Arnold,  pp.  273-75,  citing  Arnim,  i,  262;  "patriam  meam  esse  mun- 
dum  sciam,"  —  Seneca,  Dialogues,  vii,  20,  5;  "membra  sumus  corporis 
magni;  natura  nos  cognatos  edidit."  —  Epis.,  95,  52. 

18  "ejus  [societatis  humanae]  vinculum  est  ratio  et  oratio,  quae  conciliat 
inter  se  homines  conjungitque  naturali  quadam  societate."  —  De  Off.,  i, 
16,  50. 


versal  law. 


32 


Chrysippus, 
the  second 
founder. 


Cicero's 
statement. 


Diogenes 
Laertius 
chief  author- 
ity for  Stoic 
doctrine. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

nical,  as  Zeus  or  the  will  of  Zeus ;  and  in  this  sense  it  is  popularly 
said  that  nothing  happens  without  the  will  of  Zeus.19 

From  Zeno  we  pass  to  Chrysippus,  the  second  founder 
of  Stoicism,  born  at  Soli  in  Cilicia,  about  280  B.  c,  who, 
after  being  trained  possibly  by  the  founder  himself,  suc- 
ceeded, on  the  death  of  Cleanthes,  to  the  presidency  of 
the  Stoic  school.20  While  only  the  titles  and  a  compara- 
tively small  number  of  fragments  of  his  works,  said  to 
have  been  not  less  than  750,  have  come  down  to  us,  it 
seems  to  be  certain  that,  deviating  from  the  teachings  of 
Zeno  and  Cleanthes,  he  so  expanded  Stoic  doctrine  in 
every  direction  and  with  such  completeness  as  to  leave 
hardly  a  gleaning  of  details  for  his  successors  to  gather 
up.     As  Cicero  has  expressed  it: 

For  what  article  of  Stoic  doctrine  has  been  passed  over  by 
Chrysippus?  And  yet  we  read  also  Diogenes,  Antipater, 
Mnesarchus,  Panaetius,  and  many  others,  and  especially  the  works 
of  my  own  personal  friend  Posidonius.21 

The  Diogenes  of  whom  Cicero  speaks  was  of  Seleucia 
or  Babylon  (Diogenes  Stoicus),  and  succeeded  Chrysip- 
pus as  head  of  the  Stoic  school  of  Athens;  and  was  sent 
by  the  Athenians,  155  B.C.,  as  one  of  the  embassy  to 
Rome  where  he  is  supposed  to  have  died  shortly  after- 
ward. He  should  not  be  confused  with  Diogenes  Laer- 
tius, our  chief  authority  for  Stoic  doctrine,  who  wrote, 
with  the  aid  of  earlier  works,  the  biographies  of  the 
Greek  philosophers  in  ten  volumes,  probably  in  the  reign 
of  Septimius  Severus  (193-2 11  A.D.).  Only  fragments 
of  the  writings  of  the  earlier  Stoics  have  come  down  to 

1DZeller,  pp.  161-71. 

20  "Chrysippum  qui  f ulcire  putatur  porticum  Stoicorum."  —  Cicero, 
Academica,  ii,  24. 

21  De  Fin.,  i,  2. 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW  33 

us.22  Among  such  fragments  we  have  the  following  defi- 
nition of  the  right  rule,  the  common  or  universal  law,  Universal 
from  Chrysippus  himself:  "The  common  law,  which  is  aw  e  ne  ' 
the  right  reason  moving  through  all  things,  identical  with 
Zeus,  the  supreme  administrator  of  the  Universe."23 
Professor  Holland,  a  prince  among  jurists,  practical  as 
well  as  scientific,  says: 

The  Stoics  were  in  the  habit  of  identifying  Nature  with  Law 
in  the  higher  sense,  and  of  opposing  both  of  these  terms  to  Law 
which  is  such  by  mere  human  appointment.  "Justice,"  they  say, 
"is  by  Nature  and  not  by  imposition."  "It  proceeds  from  Zeus 
and  the  common  Nature." 24 

Cicero  simply  reiterates  Stoic  doctrine  when  he  says: 

Law  is  the  highest  reason,  implanted  in  Nature,  which  com- 
mands those  things  which  ought  to  be  done  and  prohibits  the 

reverse The  highest  law  was  born  in  all  the  ages  before 

any  law  was  written  or  state  was  formed Law  did  not 

then  begin  to  be  when  it  was  put  into  writing,  but  when  it  arose, 
that  is  to  say  at  the  same  moment  with  the  mind  of  God.25 

Law  exists  of  itself  and  by  natural  growth  (</>wei)  ;  it 
does  not  need  to  be  created,  since  reason  and  universal 
law  exist  in  the  community  from  the  beginning.  The 
writing  down  of  laws  is  only  a  stage  in  their  develop- 
ment.26 

Notable  words  on  this  great  subject  have  just  been  a  notable 
spoken  by  Gilbert  Murray,  professor  of  Greek  at  the  staten2ent 
University  of  Oxford:  Murray. 

22  The  complete  works  of  the  later  Stoics  —  Seneca,  Epictetus,  Marcus 
Aurelius,  Heraclitus,  Cornutus  —  who  lived  under  the  Roman  Empire,  are 
still  extant. 

23  '0  vofjios  6  koivos,  Bairep  early  6  6p66s  \070s  dia  iravrwv  epxopevos,  4  airbs 
wv  tw  Ail  Kadriyefiovi  rovru  rijs  twv  '6\wv  dioiK^aews  ovri,  —  Chrysippus,  A  pud 
D.  Laertes,  vii,  88. 

24  T.  E.  Holland,  Elements  of  Jurisprudence,  p.  32,  10th  ed. 

25  Cicero,  De  Legibus,  i,  6;  ibid,  i,  15;  ibid,  ii,  4. 

26  "Non  turn  denique  lex  incipit  esse  cum  scripta  est,  sed  turn  cum  orta 
est."  — Ibid,  ii,  5. 


34 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero  and 
Stoic  ethics. 


Summary  by 
Laertius. 


We  call  it  "Evolution."  The  Greeks  called  it  Phusis,  a  word 
which  we  translate  by  "Nature,"  but  which  seems  to  mean  more 
exactly  "growth,"  or  "the  process  of  growth."  It  is  Phusis  which 
gradually  shapes  or  tries  to  shape  every  living  thing  into  a  more 

perfect  form This  fact  had  made  people  familiar  with  the 

notion  of  natural  law.  Law  was  a  principle  which  ran  through  all 
the  movements  called  the  Kosmos,  or  "ordered  world."  Thus 
Phusis,  the  life  of  the  world,  is,  from  another  point  of  view,  the 
Law  of  Nature;  it  is  the  great  chain  of  causation  by  which  all 
events  occur;  for  the  Phusis  which  shapes  things  towards  their  end 

acts  always  by  the  law  of  causation A  natural  law,  yet  a 

natural  law  which  is  alive,  which  is  itself  life.26* 

With  all  the  faithfulness  with  which  Cicero  reproducec 
the  Stoic  invention  of  a  law  of  nature  —  a  permanent, 
uniform  and  universal  force  pervading  all  things,  and 
"proceeding  from  Zeus  and  the  common  nature" 27  he 
reproduced  the  Stoic  conception  of  ethics  by  which,  in 
his  later  years,  he  was  completely  enthralled.  So  widely 
did  that  conception,  as  the  embodiment  of  Stoic  morality 
differ,  both  in  form  and  substance,  from  the  popular 
morality  of  the  times  and  the  ideals  of  the  rival  philo- 
sophical schools,  that  it  may  also  be  called,  without  ex- 
aggeration, a  Stoic  invention.  The  fact  is  that  the  one 
was  the  corollary  of  the  other.  Stoic  ethics  rested  pri- 
marily, not  on  the  needs  of  the  individual,  but  on  the 
demands  of  the  supreme  law,  the  "universal  law,  bidding 
us  to  do  this  and  refrain  from  that."  The  fundamental 
canon  was  "to  live  consistently  with  nature,"  in  the  words 
of  Diogenes  Laertius,  whose  summary  of  Stoic  ethics  is 
generally  accepted  as  a  fair  statement  of  the  views  of 
Chrysippus  on  this  point: 

Hence  Zeno's  definition  of  the  end  is  to  live  in  conformity  to 
nature,  which  means  to  live  a  life  of  virtue,  since  it  is  to  virtue 

26a  Murray,  pp.  36  sq.,  1915. 

27  Chrysippus,  Apud  Plut.  de  Stoic.  Rep.,  9. 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW 


35 


left  for 
nationalism. 


that  nature  leads.  On  the  other  hand,  a  virtuous  life  is  a  life 
which  conforms  to  our  experience  of  the  course  of  nature,  our 
human  natures  being  but  parts  of  the  universal  nature,  thus  the 
end  to  a  life  which  follows  nature,  whereby  is  meant  not  only 
our  own  nature,  but  the  nature  of  the  universe,  a  life  wherein  we 
do  nothing  that  is  forbidden  by  the  universal  law.28 

That  supreme  law  operated  directly  on  man  as  a  po- 
litical and  social  animal,  as  a  citizen  of  the  cosmopolis 
or  world-state,  whose  constitution  was  based  upon  indi- 
vidual liberty  and  universal   reason.      And  yet  a  place   A  place 
:  was  left  for  nationalism  by  the  admission  that  the  Stoic 
j  principles  of  politics  could  be  realized  under  any  form 
!  of  government,  no  matter  whether  it  be  a  monarchy,  aris- 
i  tocracy,   or  democracy,   or  a   combination   of  such   ele- 
;ments.29     Seneca  expressed  that  idea  when  he  said  that 
!  every  man  is  born  unto  two  communities,  the  cosmopolis 
and  his  native  city.30 

The  real  purpose  for  which  a  man  exists,  the  supreme 
good  (summum  bonum),  is  to  bring  himself,  as  a 
part  of  nature,  into  harmony  with  the  whole,  so  that 
he,  through  virtue,  may  "keep  company  with  God."31 
[The  ultimate  end  of  Stoicism  was  the  creation  of  a 
good  citizen,  with  a  healthily  disposed  soul,  who, 
guided  by  the  examples  of  wise  men,  could  rise  above 
nationalism,  antiquity,  custom,  pride,  and  prejudice,  into 
the  realm  of  universal  reason  and  individual  liberty.     As 

2SApud  D.  Laert,  vii,  85. 

29  The  Stoic  theory  of  politics  as  developed  by  Panaetius  is  preserved 
in  substance  by  Cicero  in  the  De  Republica.  Cf.  A.  Schmekel,  Die  Philoso- 
\phie  der  mitilercn  Stoa  in  ilirem  geschichtlichen  Zusammenhange  darge- 
stellt,  pp.  63,  69 ;  Arnold,  pp.  273  sq. 

80  "Duas  rcspublicas  animo  complectamur,  alteram  magnam  et  vere  pub- 
licam,  qua  di  atque  homines  continentur  .  .  .  alteram,  cui  nos  adscripsit 
condicio  nascendi."  —  Seneca,  Dial.,  viii,  4,  i. 

31  [Virtus]  "habebit  illud  in  animo  vetus  praeceptum:  deum  sequere." — 
Ibid,  vii,  15,  5. 


Ideal  of  a 
good  citizen. 


36 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Founding 
of  Roman 
Stoicism. 


Crates, 
1 59  B.C. 


Embassy  of 
155  B.C. 


we  shall  see  later  on,  that  ideal  of  a  good  citizen  was 
the  weapon  Cicero  seized  upon  when,  with  the  zeal  of  an 
enthusiast  and  the  power  of  a  Titan,  he  essayed  the  im- 
possible task  of  saving  the  Roman  Republic  through  a 
social,  moral,  and  political  regeneration  of  the  governing 
classes  in  Roman  society. 

An  indication  must  next  be  given  of  the  process  through 
which  the  intellectual  life  of  Rome  passed  under  the 
dominion  of  her  subjects  in  Attica  and  Peloponnesus,  just 
after  they  had  yielded  to  the  ascendency  of  the  Stoic 
philosophers  who  were  ever  striving  to  discover  in  the 
operations  of  nature,  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual, 
some  uniform  and  universal  force  pervading  all  things 
that  could  be  designated  as  the  law  of  nature  —  the  em- 
bodiment of  universal  reason.  The  good  work  began 
with  the  arrival  at  Rome  of  the  Stoic  Crates,  the  head  of 
the  library  at  Pergamus,  who  in  159  B.C.  gave  lectures 
on  literature,  expounding  at  the  same  time,  no  doubt, 
Stoicism,  "the  earliest  offspring  of  the  union  between  the 
religious  consciousness  of  the  East  and  the  intellectual 
culture  of  the  West."  32 

Then  in  155  B.C.,  came  the  famous  embassy  from 
Athens,  including  the  heads  of  the  three  most  important 
philosophical  schools,  Diogenes  of  Babylon  representing 
the  Stoics,  Critolaus  the  Peripatetics,  and  Carneades  the 
Academics.  Such  were  the  forerunners  of  Panaetius  of 
Rhodes,  who  studied  in  his  youth  at  Pergamus,  probably 
in  the  school  of  Crates,33  whence  he  passed  to  Athens 
where  he  attached  himself  to  Diogenes,  and  afterwards 
to  his  successor  Antipater.34    The  extension  of  his  studies 


32  Lightf oot,  p.  274. 
33Strabo,  xiv,  5,  16. 
34  Discipulus  Antipatri  Panaetius.- 


Cicero,  De  Divinatione,  1,  3. 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW  37 

to  every  branch  of  philosophy,  including  astronomy  and 
politics,  brought  Panaetius  into  contact  with  the  historian 
Polybius,  both  of  these  learned  Greeks  uniting  in  admira- 
tion of  the  Roman  constitution.35  Panaetius  was  perhaps 
the  first  Greek  who  in  a  private  capacity  had  any  insight 
into  the  workings  of  the  Roman  state  or  into  the  char- 
acter of  its  citizens,  opportunity  for  observation  being 
gained  through  his  visit  to  Rome  where  he  lived  for 
years  in  the  house  of  Scipio  Africanus  the  younger.  The 
friendship  between  the  two  must  have  begun  before  the 
year  140  B.C.,  when  Panaetius  accompanied  Scipio  on  a  Panaetius 
mission  to  settle  the  affairs  of  the  East,36  continuing  andSciP10- 
until  the  death  of  Scipio  in  129  B.C.  During  that  period 
it  was  that  the  noblest  and  most  intellectual  men  of  Rome 
gathered  around  Scipio  and  his  Greek  friends  Polybius 
and  Panaetius,  forming  a  society  permeated  with  the 
atmosphere  of  Stoicism  known  to  the  Romans  as 
humanitas. 

Prominent  among  that  first  Stoic  group  was  Laelius,   Laelius. 
who  had  listened  in  his  youth  to  Diogenes  of  Babylon,37 
and  who  became  consul  in   140  B.C.,   appearing  as  the 
ideal  Stoic  and  chief  speaker  in  Cicero's  De  Amicitia; 
and  Mummius,  whose  oratory  was  marked  with  the  rug- 
gedness  characteristic  of  the  Stoic  sect.     It  was  out  of  4 
the    "humane"    movement    that   the    Gracchan    reforms  movement 
sprang,  Blossius  of  Cumae,  a  pupil  of  Antipater,  inspir-   a"dGrac_ 
ing  Tiberius  Gracchus  with  schemes  that  led  to  his  over-   forms. 

35  "Memineram  persaepe  te  cum  Panaetio  disserere  solitum  coram 
Polybio.  Optimum  longe  statum  civitatis  esse  eum,  quern  majores  nostri 
nobis  reliquissent.  —  De  Repub.,  i,  21. 

38  [accepi]  "Publi  Africani  in  legatione,  ilia  nobili  Panaetium  unum 
omnino  comitem  fuisse."  —  Acad.,  ii,  2.    Cf.  Arnold,  pp.  100-101. 

37  "llle  [Laelius]  qui  Diogenem  Stoicum  adulescens,  post  autem  Panae- 
tium audierat."  —  De  Fin,,  ii,  8. 


38 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


The 
Scaevolas. 


Lucilius. 


Panaetius  a 
reformer. 


throw.38  There  was,  however,  no  abatement  of  zeal  upon 
the  part  of  the  Stoic  nobles  who  continued  to  exercise  a 
marked  influence  upon  public  life. 

Notable  among  these  was  Q.  Mucius  Scaevola,  the 
augur,  consul  in  117  B.C.,  the  devoted  friend  of  Panae- 
tius, who  married  the  elder  daughter  of  Laelius,  the 
younger  marrying  C.  Fannius,  who  enjoyed  some  dis- 
tinction as  a  historian.  More  notable  still  was  Q. 
Mucius  Scaevola,  the  pontifex,  the  nephew  of  Mucius 
the  augur,  consul  in  95  B.C.,  often  called  the  father  of 
Roman  law,  being  the  first  to  codify  it  in  eighteen  vol- 
umes. The  Stoic  poet  was  Lucilius,  whose  teachings  as 
expressed  in  his  satires  on  religion  and  ethics  are  in  close 
accord  with  the  teachings  of  Panaetius,39  who  may  be 
justly  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of  Roman  Stoicism 
which,  as  localized,  took  on  the  form  of  a  kind  of  religion. 
It  has  been  described  as  "The  System  that  stood  to  Pagan 
Rome  more  nearly  than  anything  else  in  the  place  of  a 
religion";40  "Its  history  resembles  that  of  a  religion 
rather  than  a  speculative  system."41 

Panaetius,  the  founder  of  "Roman  Stoicism,"  was  a 
reformer  whose  primary  purpose,  in  laying  great  stress 
upon  ethics,  upon  the  "external  duties"  required  of  all 
men,  wise  and  unwise,  was  to  lift  the  older  Stoicism  as 
taught  by  Zeno  and  Chrysippus  out  of  the  stern  narrow- 
ness that  despised  the  cultivation  of  art  and  of  life.  His 
mission  was  to  infuse  into  it  a  fresh  impulse  that  would 
stimulate  research  in  history,  philosophy,  geography, 
chronology,  philology,  and  law.  Stoicism,  thus  emanci- 
pated from  the  narrow  austerity  of  its  founders,  pre- 

38  Cicero,  De  Amicitia,  ii,  37. 
89  Cf .  Schmekel,  pp.  444,  445. 

40  Hastings  Crossley,  M.  Aurelius,  iv;  Pref.,  p.  xii. 

41  G.  H.  Rendall,  M.  Aurelius,  Pref.,  p.  xv. 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW  39 

sented  its  leading  tenet,  "Live  according  to  nature,"  with 
instantaneous  success  to  that  powerful  class  at  Rome  who, 
disdaining  the  innovations  of  foreign  fashion,  still  clung, 
in  theory  at  least,  to  the  simple  habits  of  their  Italian 
ancestors.  In  the  forefront  of  that  class  stood  the 
Roman  lawyers  whose  alliance  with  the  Stoic  philosophy 
lasted  for  centuries.42 

As  to  the  direct  influence  of  Panaetius  on  Cicero  there   influence 
can  be  no  doubt.     Nobody  denies  that  the  former's  dis-  ofS*?,clsra 

*  on  Cicero. 

cussion  of  the  practical  side  of  morality  in  three  books 
on  duties  was  the  groundwork  of  Cicero's  De  Officiis. 
It  has  been  said  more  than  once  that  books  I  and  II  of 
that  work  are  simply  a  rechauffe,  in  Cicero's  style,  of 
Panaetius  upon  "external  duties,"  ^pl  iw  Ka$rjKovrwv. 
Cicero  himself  says  that  he  followed  Panaetius,  not  as  a 
mere  translator,  but  correctione  quadam  adhibita.43  It 
is  beyond  all  question  that  the  introduction  of  Stoicism 
at  Rome  was  one  of  the  most  momentous  of  the  many 
changes  it  experienced,  and,  while  the  evidence  drawn 
from  history  and  poetry  relates  chiefly  to  its  influence 
upon  the  upper  classes  of  society,  it  is  quite  possible  that 
it  also  extended  to  the  working  classes,  coloring  in  that 
way  the  philosophy  of  the  poor.44  Certain  it  is  that  the 
systematic  study  of  law,  out  of  which  was  evolved  Roman  its  influence 
jurisprudence,  had  its  beginnings  among  a  group  of  onRoman 
thinkers  profoundly  influenced  by  Stoic  teaching.  As  the 
successor  of  Scaevola  we  have  C.  Aquilius  Gallus,  prae- 
tor in  66  B.C.  with  Cicero,  who  is  notable  by  reason  of 
the  fact  that  in  his  expositions  of  the  law  he  followed 
the  principles  of  equity.45     If  Cicero's  friend  Sulpicius 

42  Maine,  pp.  52  sq.  43  See  De  Off.,  i,  2,  7 ;  3,9;  iii,  2,  7. 

44  Arnold,  p.  380. 

45  "Qui   juris    civilis    rationem    nunquam    ab    aequitate    sejunxerit." — 
Cicero,  Pro  Caecina,  xxvii. 


40  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Rufus  was  not  a  Stoic,  his  teacher  of  dialectic,  Lucilius 
Balbus,  was;  and  in  studying  oratory  he  followed  Stoic 
principles  far  enough  to  make  his  exposition  clear.46  But 
foremost  among  the  Stoics  of  Cicero's  time  stands  M. 

Cat©.  Portius  Cato,  who  blended  the  stern  tenets  of  the  new 

creed  with  the  ancient  traditions  of  his  Roman  ances- 
tors. As  a  popular  leader  above  all  private  ends,  as  a 
patriot  above  all  bribes,  as  an  orator  whose  plain  lan- 
guage and  short  sentences  could  reach  every  mind,  as  a 
philosopher  capable  of  real  eloquence  and  striking  para- 
doxes,47 he  has  stood  through  the  ages  as  the  most  notable 
illustration  of  what  a  great  citizen  cast  in  the  Stoic 
mold  really  was. 

More  closely  associated  with  Cicero  was  M.  Junius 

Brutus.  Brutus,  the  nephew  of  Cato,  who  married  his  daugh- 

ter Portia,  an  ardent  Stoic  who  stabbed  herself  in 
the  thigh  as  a  practical  demonstration  of  her  worthi- 
ness to  be  entrusted  with  a  political  secret.  It  was  to 
Brutus,  the  orator,48  the  tyrannicide,  that  Cicero  dedi- 
cated his  treatises,  De  Finibus,  De  Natura  Deorum,  and 
Tusculanae  Disputationes,  all  of  which  are  saturated  with 
Stoic  doctrines. 

In  the  light  of  what  has  now  been  said  we  may  return 
with  greater  confidence  to  the  point  at  which  the  asser- 
Making  tion  was  made  that  the  jus  gentium  —  the  common  reser- 

voir from  which  have  been  drawn  all  of  the  finer  con- 
cepts of  modern  jurisprudence,  in  all  codes,  national  and 

46  "Servius  [mihi  vldetur]  eloquentiae  tantum  assumpsisse,  ut  jus  civile 
facile  possit  tueri!"  —  Brut.,  xl. 

47  "Cato  dumtaxat  de  magnitudine  animi,  de  morte,  de  omni  laude  vir- 
tutis,  Stoice  solet,  oratoriis  ornamentis  adhibetis,  dicere."  —  Cicero,  Para- 
doxa  Sto.,  3. 

48  "Tu,  [Brute]  qui  non  linguam  modo  acuisses  exercitatione  dicendi, 
sed  et  ipsam  eloquentiam  locupletavisse  graviorum  artium  instrumento."  — 
Brut.,  97. 


jus  gentium. 


I 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW  41 

international  —  was  the  product  of  a  fusion  of  a  body  of 
principles  extracted  by  the  comparative  method  from  the 
codes  of  all  the  states  with  which  Rome  came  into  com- 
mercial contact,  and  a  certain  invention  of  the  Stoic  phi- 
losophers known  as  the  law  of  nature,  "proceeding  from 
Zeus  and  the  common  nature."  As  the  Stoic  cosmopolis 
or  world-state  embraced  the  whole  of  mankind,  the  law 
which  governed  it  was  necessarily  universal;  and  as  it 
was  an  emanation  from  the  mind  of  an  all-wise  God,  it 
was  also  the  very  perfection  of  reason.  With  that 
imposing  and  convenient  theory  the  Stoic  philoso- 
phers armed  the  Roman  jurisconsults  just  at  the  moment 
when  it  became  necessary  to  extend  the  local  law  of  a 
city-state  over  a  growing  empire  that  aspired  to  universal 
dominion. 

The  body  of  common  roots  extracted  by  the  praetor 
peregrinus  from  the  codes  of  all  the  nations  with  which 
Rome  was  in  commercial  contact  —  the  law  of  the  nations 
(jus  gentium) — was  something  entirely  separate  and  dis- 
tinct from  the  indigenous  code  (jus  civile)  which  the 
Roman  state  had  established  for  itself.  It  was  the  new 
creation  (jus  gentium)  that  was  lifted  to  the  dignity  of 
world-law,  after  the  jurisconsults  had  woven  into  it  the 
Stoic  theory  of  a  natural  law  at  once  supremely  wise  and 
universal.  Before  the  end  of  the  Republic  the  jus  gen- 
tium had  assumed  definite  form;  and  to  Cicero  —  the  Cicero  the 
great  expounder,  the  master  of  expression,  the  author  of  !2m?|J*" 
the  first  philosophic  treatises  in  the  Latin  tongue  —  nat- 
urally fell  the  duty  of  describing  it.     He  said: 

There  is  a  closer  tie  between  those  who  are  of  the  same  nation ; 
a  closer  tie  between  those  who  are  of  the  same  state.  Our 
ancestors  distinguished  the  law  of  citizens  from  the  law  of  the 
nations,  that  which  is  proper  to  citizens  not  being  therewith  part 


42 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Sohm's 
statement. 


Praetorian 
edict  an 
engine  of 
law  reform. 


of  the  law  of  the  nations,  whereas  that  which  belongs  to  the  law 
of  the  nations  ought  to  belong  to  the  law  of  citizens  also.49 

The  last  sentence  embodied  a  prophecy.  The  law  of 
the  nations  (jus  gentium)  did  finally  so  enter  into  the 
law  of  the  citizens  (jus  civile)  as  to  swallow  it  up  and 
consume  it.  By  the  broad  conceptions  embodied  in  the 
jus  gentium  the  strict  and  narrow  archaic  law  of  Rome 
was  so  enriched  and  expanded  that  in  time  the  jus  civile 
was  largely  superseded.  Finally  it  could  be  said: 
"Roman  law  was  finished;  the  local  law  of  the  city  had 
passed  into  a  law  available  for  the  world  in  general."  5C 
The  praetorian  law  was  the  channel  through  which  the 
jus  gentium  gained,  in  the  first  instance,  admittance  into 
the  Roman  civil  law,  which  it  rapidly  permeated.  The 
praetorian  edict  was  the  engine  of  law  reform  through 
which  the  harsh  rigors  of  the  jus  civile  were  displaced 
slowly  and  cautiously  by  the  jus  gentium,  the  equitable 
law  whose  growth  and  expansion,  in  opposition  to  the 
jus  strictum  of  ancient  tradition,  flowed  on  with  an  ever- 
increasing  volume.  And  yet  its  growth  did  not  suddenly 
sweep  away  the  jus  civile.  As  a  system  of  equity  it  was 
gradually  elaborated  alongside  of  the  older  and  stricter 
law  in  a  process  of  development  extending  over  a  period 
of  more  than  five  centuries.51  But,  far  in  advance  of  \ 
the  final  result,  Cicero  clearly  foresaw  all  that  this  world- 
law  was  to  be  in  the  time  to  come.  In  the  precious  frag- 
ment of  the  De  Republica52  preserved  by  Lactantius  he 

49"Itaque  majores  aliud  jus  gentium,  aliud  jus  civile  esse  voluerunt. 
Quod  civile,  non  idem  continuo  gentium,  quod  autem  gentium,  idem  civile 
esse  debet."  —  De  Off.,  iii,  17. 

50  Sohm,  p.  86. 

61  See  the  author's  Science  of  Jurisprudence,  pp.  91  sq. 

82  "Nee  erit  alia  lex  Romae,  alia  Athenis,  alia  nunc,  alia  posthac,  sed  et 
omnes  gentes  et  omni  tempore  una  lex  et  sempiterna  et  immutabilis  con- 
tinebit,  unusque  erit  communis  quasi  magister  et  imperator  omnium  deus, 
ille  legis,  hujus  inventor,  disceptator,  lator." 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW  43 

declares  in  terms  of  matchless  power  and  eloquence  of 
the  law  common  to  all  nations  (jus  gentium)  : 

It  is  not  to  be  one  law  for  Rome,  another  law  for  Athens,  one    Cicero's 
law  today,  another  law  tomorrow,  but  one  eternal  and  immutable   famous 
law  for  all  nations  and  for  all  ages,  as  God  the  common  master 
and  ruler  of  all — the  discoverer,  the  interpreter,  the  enactor  of 
the  law  —  is  one. 

Here  we  have  the  clearest  and  most  emphatic  asser- 
tion possible  of  the  Stoic  theory  of  a  universal  law  of 
nature  identical,  as  Chrysippus  says,  with  Zeus,  the 
supreme  administrator  of  the  universe. 

A  great  jurist  has  said: 

What  was  the   exact  point  of  contact  between   the  old  Jus  Blending  of 

Gentium  and  the  Law  of  Nature?     I  think  that  they  touch  and  Jus ffenttum 

blend  through  Aequitas,  or  Equity  in  its  original  sense;  and  here  nature 

we  seem  to  come  to  the  first  appearance  in  jurisprudence  of  this  through 

famous  term,  "equity."  52a  aequitas. 

Even  in  Cicero's  time  the  fusion  of  the  jus  gentium 
with  the  jus  naturale  was  so  complete  as  to  induce  him 
to  declare  them  identical.53  In  that  way  the  jus  gentium 
was  clothed  with  a  higher  authority,  a  philosophic  dig- 
nity which  tended  to  obscure  its  humble  origin  as  a  mere 
division  of  private  law.  To  that  cause  may  be  attrib- 
uted the  fact  that  the  term  jus  gentium  was,  in  a  few 
exceptional  cases,  used  out  of  its  normal  and  proper  sense 
to  indicate  a  branch  of  law  binding  on  all  nations  in  the 
direction  of  their  international  relations  as  jus  commune 
gentibus.5*     And  so  it  may  be  true  that  "there  floated 

B2a  Maine,  p.  55. 

83  "Lege  naturae,  id  est  gentium."  —  De  Off.,  i,  23.  """ 

54  "Hoc  vos  Feciales,  juris  gentibus  decitis."  —  Liv.  ix,  11.  "Populum 
Romanum  neque  recte  neque  pro  bono  facturum,  si  ab  jure  gentium  se 
prohibuerit."  —  Sallust,  Bellum  Jugurthinum,  c.  xxii.  Cf.  Nettleship,  Jour- 
nal of  Philology,  vol.  xiii,  no.  26. 


44 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Maine's 
statement. 


Tribute  of 
Renan. 


also  always  before  the  eyes  of  the  later  Roman  jurists  a 
vision  of  a  jus  naturale;  a  universal  code,  from  which 
all  particular  systems  are  derived,  or  to  which  they  all 
tend,  at  least,  to  approximate ;  a  set  of  rules,  the  matter, 
or  contents,  of  which  is  of  universal  application."  55  The 
effort  to  give  to  the  blended  product  of  jus  gentium  and 
jus  naturale  a  strained  construction  was  never  successful. 
It  was  not  the  extravagant  interpretation  of  Ulpian,  but 
the  more  restricted  and  more  reasonable  one  of  Gaius,56 
that  finally  determined  its  meaning  in  the  time  of  the 
Antonines.     As  Sir  Henry  Maine  has  expressed  it: 

At  last  at  a  peculiarly  felicitous  conjuncture,  Ayala  and  Grotius 
were  able  to  obtain  for  it  the  enthusiastic  assent  of  Europe,  ar 
assent  which  has  been  over  and   over  again   renewed   in  evei 

variety  of  solemn  engagement Having  adopted  from  the 

Antonine  jurisconsults  the  position  that  Jus  Gentium  and  the 
Jus  Naturae  were  identical,  Grotius,  with  his  immediate  prede- 
cessors and  his  immediate  successors,  attributed  to  the  Law  of 
Nature  an  authority  which  would  never  perhaps  have  beer 
claimed  for  it,  if  "Law  of  Nations"  had  not  in  that  age  been  ar 
ambiguous  expression.  They  laid  down  unreservedly  that 
Natural  Law  is  the  code  of  states,  and  thus  put  in  operation  a 
process  which  has  continued  almost  down  to  our  own  day,  the 
process  of  engrafting  on  the  international  system  rules  which  are 
supposed  to  have  evolved  from  the  unassisted  contemplation  of  the 
conception  of  nature.57 

In  the  words  of  Renan: 

"Le  stoicisme  avait  [deja]  penetre  le  droit  romain  de  ses  larges 
maximes,  et  en  avait  le  droit  naturel,  le  droit  philosophique,  tel 
que  la  raison  peut  le  concevoir  pour  tous  les  hommes.  Le  droit 
strict  cede  a  l'equite;  la  douceur  l'emporte  sur  la  severite;  la  jus- 
tice parait  inseparable  de  la  bienfaisance.     Les  grands  juriscon- 

"  Holland,  p.  6. 

56  Inst.,  i,  i.   See  also  Justinian,  Inst.,  i,  2,  §2. 

87  Maine,  pp.  95-96. 


STOIC  PHILOSOPHY  AND  ROMAN  LAW  45 

suites  d'Antonin  continuerent  la  merae  oeuvre.  Le  dernier 
[Volusius  Moecianus]  fut  le  maitre  de  Marc-Aurele  en  fait  de 
jurisprudence,  et,  a  vrai  dire,  l'oeuvre  des  deux  saints  empereurs 
ne  saurait  etre  separee.  C'est  d'eux  que  datent  la  plupart  de  ces 
lois  humaines  et  sensees  qui  flechirent  la  rigueur  du  droit  antique 
et  firent,  d'une  legislation  primitivement  etroite  et  implacable,  un 
code  susceptible  d'etre  adopte  par  tous  les  peuples  civilises."  58 

58  Ernest  Renan,  Marc-Aurele,  pp.  22,  23. 


CHAPTER  III 


Born  on  the 
farm  at 
Arpinum, 
January  3, 
106  B.C. 

Paternal 
grandfather. 


Father. 


CICERO'S    GREEK   CULTURE 

In  the  preceding  chapter  an  attempt  was  made  to 
indicate  in  a  general  way  the  intellectual  conditions  sur- 
rounding life  at  Rome,  on  its  philosophic  and  juristic 
sides,  when  Marcus  Tullius  Cicero,  the  predestined  leader 
of  the  Roman  bar,  was  born  to  a  family  of  equestrian 
rank,  the  upper-middle  class,  on  his  father's  estate  at 
Arpinum,  on  January  3,  106  B.C. 

His  paternal  grandfather  Marcus,  still  living  when 
Cicero  was  born,  was  a  country  gentleman  of  the  old 
school  who  opposed  all  innovations,  even  the  introduc- 
tion of  vote  by  ballot  into  Arpinum,  which  had  received 
the  Roman  franchise  some  time  before.1  He  so  hated 
the  Greeks  as  to  say  that  his  countrymen  were  like  Syrian 
slaves  —  the  more  Greek  they  knew,  the  greater  rascals 
they  were.  His  father,  also  called  Marcus,  a  retiring 
country  gentleman  of  delicate  health,  simply  cared  to 
live  among  his  books  on  the  ancestral  estate,  where  his 
gravest  concern  was  the  direction  of  the  education  of 
his  two  sons,  Marcus  Tullius  and  his  brother  Quintus.2 

1  From  the  De  Legibus,  Hi,  16,  36,  we  learn  that  "our  grandfather,  a 
man  of  singular  virtue  in  this  town  of  Arpinum,  as  long  as  he  lived 
opposed  Gratidius  (whose  sister,  our  grandmother,  he  had  married)  when 
he  wanted  to  introduce  the  law  of  ballot.  For  Gratidius  was  raising  a 
storm  in  a  ladle,  as  the  proverb  is,  as  his  son  Marius  afterward  did  in  the 
Aegean  Sea.  To  such  length  did  the  quarrel  proceed,  that  the  consul 
Scaurus,  when  he  was  informed  of  what  had  happened,  made  this  remark 
of  our  grandfather:  'Would  to  heaven,  Cicero,  that  a  man  of  your  courage 
and  honor  had  better  loved  to  live  in  the  capital  of  our  commonwealth 
than  to  bury  yourself  in  a  municipal  town.' " 

2  In  De  Orat.,  ii,  t,  Cicero  speaks  of  his  father  as  "optimi  ac  prudentis- 
simi  viri." 

46 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE  47 

Of  his  mother  Helvia  we  know  only  that  she  was  a  lady  Mother 
well  born  (so  says  Plutarch) ;  and  that  she  was  a  shrewd 
thrifty  housewife  who  used  to  seal  up  all  the  wine  jars 
in  the  house,  even  when  they  were  empty,  in  order  that 
the  claim  might  not  be  made  that  some  were  empty,  when 
in  fact  they  had  been  drained  clandestinely.3 

The  town  of  Arpinum  was  situated  on  the  Volscian  Town  of 

hills  that  divide  Latium  from  Campania  at  the  point  ^j™™"? 

where  the  Liris3a  and  Fibrenus  met;  and  it  seems  that 

Tullius  meant  originally  "spring"  or  "rivulet."4     The 

family  name  of  Cicero  was  probably  derived  from  some 

ancestor  who  had  cultivated  the  vegetable  called  cicer,  if 

it  was  not  derived  from  a  forebear  who  took  his  name 

;  from  a  wart  or  carbuncle  on  his  nose.     When  upon  the 

threshold  of  his  political  career  the  youthful  advocate  was 

;  advised  to  change  his  name,  Plutarch  says  that  he  haught- 

;  ily  replied  that  he  would  make  it  more  famous  than  the 

names  of  the  Catuli  and  Scauri.    Scorning  all  false  pretense,  Cicero 
:  he  sneered  at  the  attempt  to  trace  his  pedigree  to  Attius  JJf^j,, 
Tullius,5  the  Volscian  king  of  old;  and  he  said  it  would  pretense. 
:  be  a  falsification  of  family  history  if  he  claimed  descent 
I  from  Manius  Tullius,  a  patrician  consul  shortly  after 
the  expulsion  of  the  Tarquin  kings.     Cicero  of  Arpinum 
was  perfectly  content  with  his  actual  lineage;  he  was 
proud  of  his  country  home,  and  of  the  sturdy  stock  from 
which  he  sprang.    He  was  also  proud  of  the  old  borough 

3  So  says  her  son  Quintus  in  a  letter  to  Tiro.  —  Ad  Tarn.,  xvi,  26. 
3aA  name  made  familiar  by  the  charming  lines  of  Horace   (Lib.  i, 
Ode  XXII) : 

"Non  rura  quae  Liris  quieta 
Mordet  aqua  taciturnus  amnis." 

4"Tullios  alii  dixerunt  esse  silanos,  alii  rivos,   alii  vehementes  pro- 
jectiones  sanguinis  arcuatim  fluentis."  —  Festus. 
5  Plutarch,  Cicero,  i. 


48 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Described  his 
cradle  spot. 


A  man 
has  two 
countries. 


in  which  his  ancestors  had  been  leading  factors  for  gen- 
erations. As  the  "most  eloquent  of  all  the  sons  of  Ro- 
mulus" expressed  it,  in  after  years: 

There  is  one  reason,  however,  why  I  am  so  fond  of  this 
Arpinum,  which  does  not  apply  to  you Because,  to  con- 
fess the  truth,  it  is  the  native  place  of  myself  and  my  brother 
here;  for  here  indeed,  descended  from  a  very  ancient  stock,  we 
first  saw  the  light.  Here  is  our  altar,  here  are  our  ancestors,  and 
here  still  remain  many  vestiges  of  our  family.  Besides,  this  villa 
which  you  behold  in  its  present  form,  was  originally  constructed, 
at  considerable  expense,  under  my  father's  supervision;  for  hav- 
ing very  infirm  health,  he  spent  the  later  years  of  his  life  here, 
engaged  in  literary  pursuits.  And  on  this  very  place,  too,  while 
my  grandfather  was  alive,  and  while  the  villa,  according  to  the 
old  fashion,  was  but  a  little  one,  like  that  one  of  Curius,  in  the 
Sabine  country,  I  myself  was  born 

I  am  very  glad  that  I  have  brought  you  here,  and  shown  you 
what  I  may  almost  call  my  cradle  spot What  were  you  go- 
ing to  say  just  now,  when  you  called  this  Arpinum  the  true  country 
of  yourself  and  your  brother  Quintus?  Have  you  more  than  one 
country,  or  any  other  than  the  Roman  commonwealth  in  which 
we  have  a  similar  interest?  Unless,  indeed,  you  mean  to  say, 
that  the  true  country  of  the  philosophic  Cato  was  not  Rome,  but 
Tusculum.  I  indeed  should  say  that  Cato,  and  all  municipal 
citizens  like  him,  have  two  countries  —  the  one,  that  of  their  birth, 
and  the  other,  that  of  their  citizenship.  In  the  case  of  Cato,  who 
had  been  born  at  Tusculum  and  was  elected  a  citizen  of  Rome, 
he  was  a  Tusculan  by  extraction  and  a  Roman  by  citizen- 
ship;   he    had    one  country    as    his    native    place,    and    another 

as  his  country  in  law It  is  necessary,  however,  that  we 

should  attach  ourselves  by  a  preference  of  affection  to  the  latter, 
which,  under  the  name  of  the  Commonwealth,  is  the  common 
country  of  us  all.  For  this  country  it  is  that  we  ought  to  sacrifice 
our  lives;  it  is  to  her  that  we  ought  to  devote  ourselves  without 
reserve;  and  it  is  for  her  that  we  ought  to  risk  all  our  riches  and 
consecrate  all  our  hopes.6 


8  De  Leg.,  opening  of  second  book. 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE  49 

While  the  exact  date  can  not  be  fixed  it  is  certain  that 
Cicero's  father,  moved  by  the  desire  to  give  to  his  sons 
opportunities  for  education  not  to  be  had  in  a  provincial 
town,  purchased  a  house  at  Rome  in  the  street  called 
Carinae,  a  fashionable  quarter  between  the  Coelian  and  The  town 
Esquiline  mounts,  where  the  family  resided  each  year,  at  ^"carinae 
least    during    the    period    between    October    and    June. 
Whether  Cicero  then  became  the  pupil  of  the  Roman 
grammaticus,  Aelius,  a  Stoic,  described  by  him  as  a  man 
"profoundly   learned   in   Greek  and   Latin   letters,"   we 
do  not  know.     But  certain  it  is  that  he  did  become  the 
pupil,  probably  before  88-87  B-c->  of  tne  Poet  Archias,   Pupil  of  the 
a  Greek  of  Antioch,  who  came  to  Rome  in  102,  having  prooabl0  *" 
gained  fame  in  his  own  country  by  reason  of  such  a   before 
knowledge  of  the  metrical  art  of  Greek  letters  as  enabled 
him  to  improvise  in  verse  with  exceptional  skill  on  subjects 
of  current  interest. 

Under  the  guidance  of  Archias,  who  surely  impressed 
his  pupil  with  the  necessity  for  making  himself  a  master 
of  elocution,  he  studied  the  orators  and  poets  of  Greece, 
composing  at  the  same  time  in  Greek  prose  and  Latin 
verse.7  That  he  was  precocious  and  ambitious  to  excel 
his  fellow-pupils  there  can  be  no  doubt,  because  Plutarch 
says  that  when  the  boys  walked  abroad  they  gave  him  the 
place  of  honor  in  their  midst  as  a  tribute  to  his  brilliant 
parts,  which  so  excited  the  curiosity  of  their  parents  that  a"ayo„th 
they  actually  visited  the  places  of  instruction  in  order  to 
satisfy  themselves  as  to  his  preeminent  endowments. 
Certain  it  is  that  from  his  Greek  masters  he  acquired 
the  technical  skill  in  versification  and  rhythm  which  he 

7  Reference  may  here  be  made  to  an  interesting  monograph  entitled, 
A  Comparative  Scheme  of  the  Moods  and  Tenses  in  Cicero's  Translations 
from  the  Greek,  by  Charles  Henry  Saylor,  Johns  Hopkins  University 
Studies,  Baltimore,  191 1. 


5o 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Friendly 
interest  of 
Antonius 
and  Crassus. 


Edict  against 
Latin  rheto- 
ricians, 
92  B.C. 


always  employed  for  the  embellishment  of  his  speeches 
and  essays. 

Fortunately  for  the  young  Marcus,  his  father  was  able 
to  claim  the  friendship  of  two  eminent  pleaders,  then 
the  foremost  at  the  Roman  bar,  Marcus  Antonius8 
(grandfather  of  Mark  Antony)  and  Licinius  Crassus, 
the  latter  the  friend  and  admirer  of  Aculeo,  very  eminent 
in  the  civil  law  of  Rome,  who  had  married  a  sister  of 
Cicero's  mother  Helvia.9  Through  that  family  connec- 
tion Crassus,  who  was  full  of  Greek  learning  and  culture, 
was  induced  to  direct  the  education,  not  only  of  the  sons 
of  Aculeo,  but  of  their  cousin  Marcus  Tullius.  The  lads 
were  trained  by  teachers  approved  by  the  great  Crassus 
himself;  and  it  appears  that,  from  time  to  time,  they  were 
invited  to  his  house  where  Marcus  had  an  opportunity  to 
witness  the  perfect  fluency  with  which  Crassus  spoke 
Greek,  "as  if  he  knew  no  other  tongue."  10  It  was  this 
Crassus  who,  as  censor,  jointly  with  his  colleague,  Domi- 
tius  Ahenobarbus,  in  the  year  92  B.C.  issued  an  edict  clos- 
ing the  schools  of  the  Latin  rhetoricians  in  these  terms: 

It  has  been  reported  to  us,  that  there  are  men  who  have  estab- 
lished a  new  kind  of  instruction  (disciplinae)  with  whom  young 
people  meet  to  form  classes  (in  ludum) ;  that  they  have  dubbed 
themselves  Latin  Rhetors;  that  these  youths  are  loafing  for  whole: 
days  at  a  time.    Our  ancestors  have  established  what  they  wished  J 
their  sons  to  learn  and  what  classes  to  attend.     The  new-fangled 
things  which  are  done  contrary  to  the  usage  and  manner  of  our 
ancestors,   neither  have   our   approval   nor   do   they  seem    right,  j 
Therefore  it  seems  we  ought  to  set  forth  our  opinion  both  to 
those  who  hold  these  classes  as  well  as  to  those  who  are  wont  to; 
attend  them,  to  wit  that  we  disapprove  it.11 

8  Liv.,  Epit.,  68. 

9  See  W.  Drumann,  Geschichte  Roms  nach  Geschlechtern,  v,  p.  213. 

10  De  Oral.,  ii,  2. 

11  The  edict  is  preserved  by  Aulus  Gellius,  xv,  11;  and  Suetonius,  De' 
Claris  Rhetoribus,  proem.   Cf.  Sihler,  pp.  n-13. 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE  51 

In  his  later  years  Cicero,  in  order  to  explain  why  the 
despotic  power  of  the  censorship  was  thus  employed  to 
suppress  Latin  schools  of  rhetoric  at  Rome,  gives  Crassus 
himself  the  opportunity  to  say: 

Even  Latin  teachers  of  rhetoric,  please  the  gods,  have  risen  Explained  in 
within  the  last  two  years ;  a  class  of  persons  whom  I  had  sup-  De  Oratore. 
pressed  by  my  edict,12  when  I  was  censor,  not  because  I  was 
unwilling  (as  some,  I  know  not  who,  asserted)  that  the  abilities 
of  our  youth  should  be  improved,  but  because  I  did  not  wish  that 
their  understanding  should  be  weakened  and  their  impudence 
strengthened.  For  among  the  Greeks,  whatever  was  their  char- 
acter, I  perceived  that  there  was,  besides  exercise  of  the  tongue, 
some  degree  of  learning,  as  well  as  politeness  suited  to  liberal 
knowledge;  but  I  knew  that  these  new  masters  could  teach  youth 
nothing  but  effrontery,  which,  even  when  joined  with  good  qual- 
ities, is  to  be  avoided,  and,  in  itself,  especially  so;  and  as  this, 
therefore,  was  the  only  thing  that  was  taught  by  the  Latins,  their 
school  being  indeed  a  school  of  impudence,  I  thought  it  became 
the  censor  to  make  sure  that  the  evil  should  not  spread  further. 

I  do  not,  however,  determine  and  decree  on  the  point,  as  if  I 
despaired  that  the  subjects  which  we  are  discussing  can  be  deliv- 
ered, and  treated  with  elegance,  in  Latin;  for  both  our  language 
and  the  nature  of  things  allow  the  ancient  and  excellent  science 
of  Greece  to  be  adapted  to  our  customs  and  manners;  but  for 
such  a  work  are  required  men  of  learning  such  as  none  of  our 
, countrymen  have  been  in  this  sphere;  but  if  ever  such  arise,  they 
will  be  preferable  to  the  Greeks  themselves.13 

No   matter  how   profound   the   impression   made   at   Cicero's  con- 
Rome  by  the  new  world-religion  as  preached  by  the  Stoic  ^"P**01**116 

n  .  t  or  j  Epicureans. 

Panaetius  and  his  followers  may  have  been  upon  the 
upper  classes  in  general  and  upon  Roman  jurists  in  par- 
ticular, the  fact  remains  that  these  apostles  of  the  Porch 
met  valiant  defenders  of  the  older  philosophies  of  Greece 
in  the  representatives  of  the  Academic  schools,  not  to 

12  For  a  reference  to  this  passage,  see  Quintilian,  ii,  4,  42. 

13  De  Orat.,  HI,  24. 


52 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


mention  the  Epicureans.  But  as  the  tenets  of  the  Garden, 
though  carefully  studied  by  Cicero,14  made  no  serious  im- 
pression upon  his  mind  or  life,  either  in  the  domain  of 
metaphysics  or  morals,  we  may  dismiss  Epicurus  as  a 

His  relations    negligible  quantity.     The  serious  matter  at  issue  is  that 

Academy.  involved  in  his  relations  with  the  Academy  which,  as  an 
advocate,  he  woed  in  his  youth,  and  which,  as  a  statesman 
and  philosopher,  he  completely  abandoned  in  his  later 
years. 

Plato.  Plato,  the  founder  at  Athens  of  the  philosophical  asso- 

ciation known  as  the  "Academy,"  was  no  doubt  the  ablest 
interpreter  of  the  true  mind  of  Socrates.  In  the  words 
of  Ueberweg  he  "combined  the  various  elements,  the,  so 
to  speak,  prismatically  broken  rays  of  the  Socratic  spirit 
in  a  new,  higher,  and  richer  unity."  15    And  so  by  far  the 

Aristotle.  ablest  of  Plato's  disciples  was  Aristotle  of  Stagira  who, 
branching  off  from  the  Academy,  founded  about  350  B.C. 
the  school  of  the  Peripatetics,  the  primary  purpose  of  its 
founder  being  to  introduce  into  philosophy,  then  con- 
vulsed by  the  disputes  of  the  followers  of  Socrates,  a 
spirit  of  reconciliation.  In  order  to  reach  the  truth,  said 
the  new  teacher,  we  must,  after  collecting  the  various 
opinions  commonly  held,  seek  the  reconciling  formula 
of  which  each  is  a  partial  statement. 

After  the  death  of  Aristotle,  the  Peripatetics  so  gravi- 
tated toward  the  Academics  that  in  later  centuries  there 
seemed  to  be  but  little  difference  between  them.  The 
Romans  found  but  little  divergence  between  the  teaching 
of  the  Peripatetics  and  that  of  the  earlier  Academy.    Into 

14  He  had  gained  some  acquaintance  with  them  at  Rome  through  Phae- 
drus  {Ad  Fam.,  xiii,  i)  before  he  met  Philo. 

16  Eng.  transl.,  vol.  1,  p.  89,  Grundriss  der  Geschichte  der  Philosophic 
Tenth  ed.  by  K.  Prachter,  1909.  Translated  from  the  4th  German  ed.  by 
G.  S.  Morris,  2  vols.,  New  York,  1872-74. 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE  53 

how  many  schools  was  the  Academy,  which  lasted  from 
the  days  of  Plato  to  those  of  Cicero,  divided?  Upon 
that  subject  the  critics  are  not  agreed.  Cicero  and  Varro 
recognized  but  two,  the  old  and  the  new;  Sextus  Empiri- 
cus  added  a  third,  the  middle;  others  a  fourth,  that  of 
Philo  and  Charmidas;16  and  some  even  a  fifth,  the  Acad-  Five 
emy  of  Antiochus.  Cicero,  who  is  the  principal  author-  ^oofs""0 
ity  for  the  history  of  the  Academic  schools,  pronounces 
the  following  eulogy  on  the  old  Academy.  After  enu- 
merating its  leaders,  he  says: 

From  their  writings  and  systems  all  liberal  learning,  all  his-   Cicero's 
tory,  all  elegance  of  language,  may  be  derived;  and  also,  so  great    euI°gy 
is  the  variety  of  arts  of  which  they  were  masters,  that  no  one  can    Academv 
come  properly  armed  for  any  business  of  importance  and  credit 
without  being  tolerably  versed  in  their  writings.17 

It  was  the  old  Academy  that  chiefly  developed  the 
ethical  side  of  Plato's  teachings,  the  path  of  virtue  being 
indicated  by  the  natural  capacities  of  the  individual.  And 
so  Polemo  of  Athens  (head  of  the  school,  314-270  B.C.)  Poiemo. 
taught,  according  to  Cicero,  that  happiness  consisted  in 
"virtuous  living,  aided  by  those  advantages  to  which 
nature  first  draws  us,"  practically  the  standard  adopted 
by  Aristotle.18  It  was  Arcesilaus  (315-240  B.  c),  the  Arccsilaus. 
successor  of  Crates,  and  the  disciple  of  Theophrastus  and 
Polemo,  who  taught  that  truth  can  never  be  certainly 
known;  that  life  must  be  guided  by  consideration  of  prob- 
ability, the  ethical  standard  being  that  "of  which  a  rea- 
sonable defense  may  be  made."  19     Such  was  the  nature 

18  According  to  Cicero  {Acad.,  ii,  6,  17;  De  Orat.,  i,  IX,  45;  Ad  M. 
Brutum  Orator,  xxi,  41)  Charmidas  was  a  pupil  of  Carneades. 

17  De  Fin.,  v,  3. 

18  "Honeste  autem  vivere,  f  ruentem  rebus  eis,  quas  primas  homini  natura 
conciliet,  et  vetus  Academia  censuit  (ut  indicant  scripta  Polemonis),  et  Aris- 
toteles  eiusque  amici  hue  proxime  videntur  accedere."  —  Acad.,  ii,  42,  131. 

19  [cuius]  "ratio  probabilis  possit  reddi."  —  De  Fin.,  iii,  17,  58.  Cf. 
Arnold,  pp.  55-63. 


54 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Carneades. 


Views  of 
Cardinal 
Newman. 


Philothe 
teacher  of 
Cicero. 


of  the  academic  skepticism  which  was  developed  and  sys- 
tematized a  century  later  by  Carneades,  who  is  called  the 
founder  of  the  third,  or  new  Academy.  He  was  the  chief 
opponent  of  the  Stoics  and  their  doctrine  of  certitude. 
Cardinal  Newman  says : 

Thus,  although  we  find  Carneades,  in  conformity  to  the  plan 
adopted  by  Arcesilaus,  opposing  the  dogmatic  principles  of  the 
Stoics,  concerning  moral  duty,  and  studiously  concealing  his  pri- 
vate views  even  from  his  friends;  yet,  by  allowing  that  the  sus- 
pense of  judgment  was  not  always  a  duty  that  the  wise  man  might 
sometimes  believe  though  he  could  not  know;  he  in  some  measure 
restored  the  authority  of  those  great  instincts  of  our  nature  which 
his  predecessor  appears  to  have  discarded.  Clitomarchus  pursued 
his  steps  by  innovations  in  the  same  direction ;  Philo,  who  followed 
next,  attempting  to  reconcile  his  tenets  with  those  of  the  Platonic 
school,  has  been  accounted  the  founder  of  a  fourth  academy  — 
while,  to  his  successor  Antiochus,  who  embraced  the  doctrines  of 
the  Porch,  and  maintained  the  fidelity  of  the  senses,  it  has  been 
usual  to  assign  the  establishment  of  a  fifth.20 

It  was  this  Philo  of  Larissa,  the  founder  of  the  so- 
called  fourth  Academy,  who  became  the  teacher  of  Cicero 
when,  in  his  nineteenth  year,  he  began  the  study  of  Greek 
philosophy  in  earnest.  This  official  head  of  the  Academic 
Sect  at  Athens,  with  other  conservatives  of  his  kind,  had 
fled  to  Rome  about  88  B.C.,  after  the  Athenian  democracy 
had  hailed  Mithridates  as  the  champion  of  the  Hellenic 
world.21  In  order  to  support  himself  while  in  exile  Philo 
gave  instruction  at  the  capital,  the  object  of  his  teaching 
being,  no  doubt,  to  put  such  a  new  complexion  on  the 
skeptical  teaching  of  Arcesilaus  and  Carneades,   as  to 

20  "Personal  and  Literary  Character  of  Cicero,"  Historical  Sketches, 
vol.  i,  p.  271. 

21  At  this  time  Philo,  a  philosopher  of  the  first  name  in  the  Academy, 
with  many  of  the  principal  Athenians,  having  deserted  their  native  home, 
and  fled  to  Rome,  from  the  fury  of  Mithridates,  immediately  became  his 
scholars,  and  were  exceedingly  taken  with  his  philosophy.  —  Brut.,  lxxxix. 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE  55 

make  it  possible  to  believe  that  while  things  were  in  their 
own  nature  knowable,  they  were  not  so  by  the  standard 
of  knowledge  the  Stoics  proposed.     And  so  it  was  af- 
firmed both  by  Philo  and  Metrodorus  that  Carneades   Claimed  that 
had  really  been  misunderstood  by  everybody.22     There   hadbeen" 
seems  to  be  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  positive  teaching   misunder- 
Philo  attributed  to  his  master,  whether  right  or  wrong, 
was  held  by  himself,  and  emphasized  in  the  discourses  in 
which  he  propounded  many  theses  of  practical  life,  rather 
as  problems  to  be  proven  or  disproven  than  as  a  series 
of  dogmatic  axioms  or  maxims.     Among  the  subjects  so 
treated  were  the  following: 

Whether  a  man  of  understanding  should  enter  public  life  or   His  maxims, 
share  in  the  life  of  political  leaders,  whether  the  wise  man  should 
marry,  what  was  the  best  form  of  government,  whether  offices 
should  be  made  common  or  given  as  an  honor  to  the  most  worthy 
only. 

The  strength  of  this  school  was  in  the  presentation  of 
propositions  and  counter-propositions  based  upon  the 
actual  conditions  of  life,  to  be  proven  or  disproven, 
rather  than  mere  abstractions  whose  discussion  could  bear 
no  real  fruit.  Just  at  the  time  when  the  youthful  Cicero 
was  being  impressed  by  the  Athenian  Academician  Philo, 
his  father  took  into  his  household  a  Greek  scholar  and 
teacher  of  the  Stoic  sect,  Diodotus,  with  whom  the  rap-  The  Stoic 
idly  maturing  youth  studied  Greek  philosophy  daily  in 
the  form  in  which  it  was  expounded  by  the  Porch.  In 
the  De  Natura  Deorum,  he  tells  us : 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  this  application  to  philosophical 
studies  has  been  sudden  on  my  part.  I  have  applied  myself  to 
them  from  my  youth,  at  no  small  expense  of  time,  and  trouble; 

22  See  R.  D.  Hicks,  Stoic  and  Epicurean,  pp.  355-56;  and  also  the  edition 
of  Cicero's  Academica,  by  J.  S.  Reid,  Introd.,  pp.  58  sqq.;  Sihler,  p.  25. 


Diodotus. 


56 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


his  heir. 


and  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  philosophizing  a  great  deal,  when 
I  least  seemed  to  think  about  it;  for  the  truth  of  which  I  appeal 
to  my  orations,  which  are  filled  with  quotations  from  the  phi- 
losophers, and  to  my  intimacy  with  those  very  learned  men,  who 
frequented  my  house  and  conversed  daily  with  me ;  particularly 
Diodotus,  Philo,  Antiochus,  and  Posidonius,  under  whom  I  was 
bred.23 

When  Cicero  married  and  set  up  a  house  of  his  own 
his  old  teacher  went  with  him,24  dying  in  the  mansion  on 
Made  Cicero  the  Palatine  in  59  B.C.  the  year  before  his  patron,  whom 
he  made  his  heir,  was  driven  into  exile.  In  a  letter  to 
Atticus  Cicero  says:  "Diodotus  is  dead;  he  has  left  me 
perhaps  1,000  sestertia."  25  The  wide  attainments  of  this 
teacher  and  friend  embraced  a  knowledge  of  mathe- 
matics; but  Cicero  seems  to  have  been  most  impressed  by 
his  instruction  in  logic,  a  science  in  which  the  Stoics 
excelled. 

No  matter  whether  it  was  fear  of  Sulla,  as  Plutarch 
says,  or  ill  health  that  prompted  Cicero  when,  in  79-78 
B.  c,  he  went  abroad  to  seek  a  change  of  air  and  scene, 
accompanied  by  his  brother  Quintus,  his  cousin  Lucius, 
Marcus  Piso,  and  above  all  by  his  "other  self,"  the  be- 
loved Atticus,  who  had  sojourned  in  Athens  since  about 
the  year  86  B.  c.26  He  went  with  his  friends  first  to 
Athens,  "mother  of  arts  and  eloquence,"  now  only  the 
chief  town  of  a  Roman  province,  filled  with  busy  idlers,  as 
it  was  a  century  later,  when,  as  they  are  described  by  St. 
Paul :  "All  the  Athenians  and  strangers  which  were  there 
spent  their  time  in  nothing  else  but  either  to  tell  or  to  hear 


The  tour 
abroad, 

79-78  B.C. 


Athens 


23  i,  3- 

24  Cicero,  Ad  Atticum,  ii,  20. 

25  "Diedoto  quid  faciam  Stoico,  quern  a  peuro  audivi,  qui  mecum  vivit 
tot  annos,  qui  habitat  apud  me,  quern  et  admiror  et  diligo?"  —  Academica, 
H,  36. 

26  Drumann,  Gesch.  R'oms.,  vol.  v,  p.  8. 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE  57 

some  new  thing."  27  The  new  thing  Cicero  desired  to  hear 
was  in  his  favorite  domain  of  philosophy;  and  in  order 
to  advance  his  knowledge  in  that  direction  he  renewed 
under  the  guidance  of  Antiochus  of  Askalon,  then  the  Antiochus. 
official  head  ( scholar chos)  of  the  so-called  fifth  Academy,  of  Askalon 
studies  begun  at  Rome  under  his  predecessor  Philo.  If 
he  had  begun  by  compromising  with  the  enemy,  his  pupil 
Antiochus,  worn  out  after  a  long  struggle  with  the  Stoics, 
went  so  far  in  recanting  his  agnostic  errors  as  to  admit 
not  only  that  knowledge  was  possible,  but  possible  under 
the  standard  he  had  so  long  refused  to  recognize.28  In 
describing  the  famous  spot  in  the  suburbs  of  Athens  occu- 
pied by  the  Academy,  redolent  with  memories  of  Plato 
himself,  Cicero  says: 

One  day  when  I  had  been  hearing  Antiochus  lecture,  as  I  was    Cicero's  de- 
in  the  habit    of  doing,  O  Brutus,  in  company  with  Marcus  Piso,    scriptionof 
in  that  gymnasium  which  is  called  that  of  Ptolemy,  my  brother    ™ePlace 
Quintus  being  with  me,  and  Titus  Pomponius,  and  Lucius  Cicero,    Academy, 
our  cousin  on  the  father's  side  as  to  relationship,  but  our  brother 
as  to  affection,  we  determined  to  take  our  afternoon's  walk  in  the 
Academy,  principally  because  at  that  time  of  day  that  place  was 
free  from  any  crowd.     Accordingly,   at  the  appointed   time  we 
all  met  at  Piso's  house,  and  thence  we  walked  half-a-dozen  fur- 
longs from  the  Dipylus  to  the  Academy,  beguiling  the  way  with 
discourse  on  various  subjects;  and  when  we  arrived  at  the  de- 
servedly celebrated  space  of  the  Academy  we   there   found   the 
solitude  we  desired For  the  remembrance  of  Plato  comes 

27  "When  Cicero  came,  not  long  after  Sulla's  siege,  he  found  the  philoso- 
phers in  residence.  As  the  Empire  grew,  Athens  assumed  more  and  more 
the  character  of  a  university  town.  After  Christianity  was  first  preached 
there,  this  character  was  confirmed  to  the  place  by  the  embellishments  and 
benefactions  of  Hadrian.  And  before  the  schools  were  closed  by  the  orders 
of  Justinian,  the  city  which  had  received  Cicero  and  Atticus  as  students 
together  became  the  scene  of  the  college  friendship  of  St.  Basil  and  St. 
Gregory,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  episodes  of  primitive  Christianity."  — 
Conybeare  and  Howson,  p.  322. 

28  Acad.  Pr.,  ii,  69;  cf.  Numenius,  cited  by  Eusebius,  Pr.  Ev.,  xiv,  9,  1; 
Augustinus,  Contr.  Acad.,  ii,  6,  15;  iii,  18,  41;  Hicks,  p.  357. 


58 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  JND  WORKS 


Antiochus' 

diluted 

Stoicism. 


A  passage 
from  the 
Academica. 


into  my  mind,  whom  we  understand  to  have  been  the  first  person 
who  was  accustomed  to  dispute  here ;  and  whose  neighboring  gar- 
dens not  only  recall  him  vividly  to  my  recollection,  but  seem  even 
to  place  the  man  himself  before  my  eyes.  Here  Speusippus,  here 
Xenocrates,  here  his  pupil  Polemo  used  to  walk;  and  the  latter 
used  to  sit  in  the  very  spot  which  is  now  before  us.  There  is  our 
senate-house  (I  mean  the  Curia  Hostilia,  not  this  new  one,  which 
always  seems  to  me  smaller,  though  in  fact  it  is  larger)  :  whenever 
I  have  looked  upon  that  I  have  always  thought  of  Scipio,  and  Cato, 
and  Laelius,  and  more  especially  of  my  own  grandfather.29 

Such  was  the  hallowed  spot  in  which  Antiochus  poured 
out,  under  the  name  of  the  "old  Academy,"  a  kind  of 
diluted  Stoicism  then  prevailing,  avoiding  only  a  few  of 
its  paradoxes  and  its  dogmatic  temper.30  Weary  of  the 
skeptical  quibbling  of  such  of  his  predecessors  as  Arcesi- 
laus  and  Carneades,  he  excused  his  drift  towards  the 
Porch  by  demonstrating  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Stoics 
were  to  be  found  (i.  e.}  foreshadowed)  in  Plato.31 
Cicero's  favorite  contention  was  that  the  Stoic  dialectic, 
as  he  had  learned  it  from  his  teacher  Antiochus,  was  not 
an  original  system  but  a  modification  of  the  tenets  of  the 
old  Academy.     As  he  has  expressed  it  in  the  Academica: 

You  have,  said  I,  O  Varro,  explained  the  principles  both  of 
the  Old  Academy  and  of  the  Stoics  with  brevity,  but  also  with 
great  clearness.  But  I  think  it  to  be  true,  as  Antiochus,  a  great 
friend  of  mine,  used  to  assert,  that  it  is  to  be  considered  rather 
as  a  corrected  edition  of  the  Old  Academy,  than  any  new  sect. 
....  Still  let  the  school  whose  principles  I  have  explained,  be 
called  the  Old  Academy,  and  this  other  the  New;  which,  having 
continued  to  the  time  of  Carneades,  who  was  the  fourth  in  suc- 
cession  after  Arcesilaus,   continued   in   the   same   principles    and 

29  De  Fin.,  v,  i. 

30"Eadem  dicit  quae  Stoici."  —  Acad.,  ii,  22.  "Erat,  si  perpauca  muta- 
visset,  germanissimus  Stoicus."  —  Ibid.,  42,  132.  See  also  J.  S.  Reid,  Aca- 
demica of  Cicero,  Introd.,  pp.  15-19,  and  notes  to  Acad.,  39,  123,  and  40, 
126.  Arnold,  p.  no. 

31  Sextus  Empiricus,  Pyrrhoniai  Hypotuposeis,  1,  235;  Sihler,  p.  56. 


1 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE  59 

system  as  Arcesilaus I  wish  to  follow  the  Stoics.     Will 

Antiochus  (I  do  not  say  Aristotle,  a  man  almost,  in  my  opinion, 
unrivalled  as  a  philosopher,  but  will  Antiochus)  give  me  leave? 
And  he  was  called  an  Academic;  but  he  would  have  been,  with 
very  little  alteration,  something  very  like  a  Stoic.  The  matter 
shall  now  be  brought  to  a  decision.  For  we  must  either  give  the 
wise  man  to  the  Stoics  or  to  the  Old  Academy.  He  can  not 
belong  to  both ;  for  the  contention  between  them  is  not  one  about 
boundaries,  but  about  the  whole  territory.  For  the  whole  system 
of  life  depends  on  the  definition  of  the  chief  good ;  and  those  who 
differ  on  that  point,  differ  about  the  whole  system  of  life.  It  is 
possible,  therefore,  that  those  of  both  these  schools  should  be  wise, 
since  they  differ  so  much  from  one  another;  but  one  of  them 
only  can  be  so.  If  it  be  the  disciple  of  Polemo,  then  the  Stoic  is 
wrong,  who  assents  to  an  error:  and  you  say  nothing  is  so  incom- 
patible with  the  character  of  a  wise  man  as  that.  But  if  the 
principles  of  Zeno  be  true,  then  we  must  say  the  same  of  the  Old 
Academy  and  of  the  Peripatetics;  and  as  I  do  not  know  which 
is  the  more  wise  of  the  two,  I  give  assent  to  neither.82 

In  the  light  of  such  and  other  similar  declarations  made 
by  Cicero,  who  was  taught  both  by  Philo  and  Antiochus,  Cicero  the 
it  is  very  tempting  to  fall  into  the  error  of  believing  that 
he  was  really  dominated  by  that  mild  skepticism,  that 
electicism  composed  of  an  almost  equal  sympathy  with 
Plato  and  Zeno,  which  manifests  itself  so  often  in  his 
works.     Speaking  as  an  Academician  he  says: 

My  words  do  not  proclaim  the  truth,  like  a  Pythian  priestess; 

but  I  conjecture  what  is  probable,  like  a  plain  man ;  and  where,  I 

ask,  am  I  to  search  for  anything  more  than  verisimilitude  ?  .  .  .  . 

The  characteristic  of  the  Academy  is  never  to  interpose  one's 

I  judgment,    to   approve   what   seems   most    probable,    to   compare 

I  together  different  opinions,  to  see  what  may  be  advanced  on  either 

(side,  and  to  leave  one's  listeners  free  to  judge  without  pretending 

I  to  dogmatize. 

32  Acad.,  i,  12;  ii,  43. 


advocate 
an  eclectic. 


an  eclectic. 


60  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

There  spoke  the  pleader,  the  advocate,  the  man  of  pa- 
laestric  genius  in  the  forensic  arena,  often  striving  to  make 
the  worst  appear  the  better  cause.  In  that  capacity 
Cicero  may  justly  be  called  an  eclectic,  a  selector,  a 
chooser  from  all  the  arsenals  of  thought  of  those  intel- 
lectual weapons  that  best  served  his  purpose  on  a  par- 
Antiochus  ticular  occasion.  It  is  no  doubt  true  that  Antiochus  was 
really  an  eclectic;  but,  only  with  the  qualification  just 
stated,  can  it  be  said  that  "the  school  to  which  Cicero 
finally  attached  himself  was  that  founded  by  Antiochus  of 
Ascalon  (c.  125—50  B.  c.)."  The  just  and  critical  author- 
ity who  makes  that  assertion  is  careful  to  state  at  the 
same  time  that  — 

....  his  most  systematic  expositions  of  Stoic  doctrine  are  as  fol- 
lows: In  the  Academica  a  general  view  of  Zeno's  teaching  is 
given  by  M.  Varro  (i,  10,  35  to  ii,  42),  and  the  Stoic  logic,  as 
accepted  by  Antiochus,  is  defended  by  L.  Licinius  Lucullus  (ii,  1, 
1  to  19,  63).  In  the  De  Natura  Deorum  (bit.  ii)  the  Stoic 
physics  is  explained  by  Q.  Lucilius  Balbus;  in  the  De  Finibus 
(bk.  iii)  the  Stoic  ethics  by  M.  Portius  Cato,  as  the  most 
distinguished  Roman  who  has  adopted  them  as  a  standard 
of  life.  In  the  De  Officiis  Cicero  adopts  the  form  of  a  letter 
addressed  to  his  son  when  studying  at  Athens,  and  avowedly 
adapts  the  substance  of  the  work  of  Panaetius  already  mentioned, 
supplementing  it  from  a  memorandum  of  the  teaching  of  Posi- 
donius  which  was  specially  prepared  for  him  by  Athenodorus 
Calvus;  this  book  deals  with  ethics  mainly  in  its  practical  appli- 
cations. In  many  of  his  other  works,  such  as  De  Amicitia, 
De  Senectute,  Tusculan  Disputations,  De  Fato,  De  Divinatione, 
and  Faradoxa,  Cicero  makes  use  of  Stoic  material  without  giving 
professedly  an  exposition  of  the  Stoic  system.33 

That  is  only  a  too  guarded  statement  of  the  whole 
truth  to  be  maintained  herein,  which  is  that  as  Cicero 
grew  older,  as  he  ceased  to  be  a  mere  advocate  and  be- 

88  Arnold,  p.  109. 


I 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE  61 

came  a  philosopher  and  statesman  mastered  and  over-   Cicero  the 
come  with  the  idea  of  regenerating  the  social  and  polit-   J%2£P 
ical  fabric  of  a  falling  Republic  through  Stoic  morality, 
and  the  Stoic  conception  of  a  life  beyond  the  grave  with 
a  Lord  and  Father  who  ruled  through  law  —  he  became, 
without  a  formal  announcement  of  the  fact,  as  thoroughly   without 
Stoic,  in  all  he  wrote  in  his  later  years,  as  ever  Chrysip-   *^°™* 
pus  or  Cato  had  been.     When  the  time  came  to  attempt  mentof 
the  reform  of  a  luxurious  and  corrupt  society  by  such 
appeals  as  were  embodied  in  the  De  Legibus,  the  De   Passages 
Offidis,  and  De  Finibus,  it  was  useless  to  trifle  with  the   JjJ^Sw 
quibbling  skepticism  of  the  new  Academy  which  declared 
war  on  all  forms  of  positive  conviction.     In  opening  the 
!  work  first  named  Cicero  says: 

My  treatise  throughout  aims  at  the  strengthening  of  the  foun- 
dation of   commonwealths  and   the  advancement  of  the  welfare 
of  peoples.     I  dread  therefore  to  lay  down  any  but  well-consid- 
\  ered  and  carefully  examined  principles ;  I  do  not  say  principles 
which  are  universally  received,  for  none  are  such,  but  principles 
|  received  by  those  philosophers    (evidently   Stoics)    who  consider 
i  virtue  to  be  desirable  for  its  own  sake,  and  nothing  whatever  to 
be  good,  or  at  least  a  great  good,  which  is  not  in  its  own  nature 
praiseworthy. 

And  then,  with  the  arguments  of  Carneades  against 
'justice  apparently  in  his  mind,  he  says: 

As  to  the  Academy,  which  puts  the  whole  subject  into  utter 
confusion,  I  mean  the  new  Academy  of  Arcesilaus  and  Carneades, 
let  us  persuade  it  to  hold  its  peace.  For,  should  it  make  an  inroad 
upon  the  views  which  we  consider  we  have  so  skillfully  put  into 
shape,  it  will  make  an  extreme  havoc  of  them.  The  Academy  I 
f  can  not  conciliate,  and  I  dare  not  ignore.34 

The  fact  that,  for  tactful  reasons  of  his  own,  Cicero 
did  not  deem  it  wise  to  make  any  more  formal  statement 

34  De  Leg.,  i,  13. 


62 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Professor 

Sihler's 

statement. 


Cicero's 
mind  finally 
enveloped 
by  Stoicism. 


that  he  was,  in  his  later  years,  Stoic  to  the  core  as  to  all 
questions  affecting  politics,  morals,  and  theology,  should 
not  for  a  moment  mislead  the  critical  who  have  only  to 
turn  to  the  great  works  published  toward  the  close  of  his 
life  in  order  to  find  the  Stoic  tenets  on  those  subjects 
blazoned  on  every  page.  Professor  Sihler,  in  reviewing 
the  essay  on  old  age,  makes  the  proper  statement  mildly 
when  he  says: 

The  author  was  then  in  his  sixty-third  year  and  the  financier 

and  Philhellene  in  his  sixty-sixth One  can  readily  see  that 

the  exordium  was  written  last.  The  deeper  substratum  of  Cicero's 
spiritual  affinity,  by  this  time,  was  really  Stoicism.  Nature  defines 
our  ideals  and  noblest  motives.35 

It  is  impossible  to  grasp  the  real  significance  of  Cicero's 
intellectual  life  as  a  connecting  link  between  the  ancient 
and  modern  world  without  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
fact  that  the  deeper  substratum  of  his  spiritual  affinity, 
which  finally  enveloped  his  mind  and  soul,  was  Roman 
Stoicism  in  its  purest  and  most  scientific  form.     In  the 
analyses  of  his  works  hereafter  to  be  made  there  will  be 
a  persistent  effort  to  explain  how  it  was  that  whenever^ 
in  his  later  years,  he  spoke  seriously  as  a  jurist,  states- 
man, moralist,  or  theologian,  it  was  to  emphasize  with 
all  the  force  of  his  ardent  nature  some  one  of  the  great! 
principles  involved  in  the  Stoic  cosmopolis  or  world-state,1 
ruled  by  a  single  God  as  the  source  of  permanent,  uniJ 
form,  and  universal  law.     When  he  was  called  upon  to* 
define  for  the  first  time  the  real  nature  of  the  jus  gentium  A 
after  it  had  been  robed  in  the  Stoic  invention  called  the 
law  of  nature,  he  said: 

It  is  not  to  be  one  law  for  Rome,  another  law  for  Athens,  one 
law  today,  another  law  tomorrow,  but  one  eternal  and  immutable 

35  Sihler,  p.  408. 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE  63 

law  for  all  nations  and  for  all  ages,  as  God  the  common  master 
and  ruler  of  all  —  the  author,  the  interpreter,  the  enactor,  of  the 
law  —  is  one.36 

There  we  hear  with  a  distinctness  not  to  be  mistaken 
the  voice  of  Chrysippus  describing  the  universal  or  nat-    The  voice  of 
ural  law  of  the  Stoic  world-state,  "which  is  right  reason   Chrysippus. 
moving    through    all    things,    identical    with    Zeus,    the 
supreme  administrator  of  the  universe."     When  we  pass 
from  book  iii  of  the  De  Republica,  containing  the  fore- 
going definition  of  the  jus  gentium,  to  book  vi,  contain- 
ing Scipio's  dream,  we  find  Cicero,  upon  the  eve  of  the   Scipio's 
rapidly  approaching  crisis,   striving  to   create   a  higher     reara' 
conception  of  the  duties   of  Roman  citizenship  by  the 
assurance  that  pious,  patriotic,  and  philanthropic  states- 
men will  be  rewarded  not  only  on  earth  by  the  approval 
of  their  consciences  and  the  applause  of  all  good  citizens, 
but  by  immortal  glory  in  new  forms  of  being  in  a  higher 
life  beyond  the  grave.     That  method  of  appeal  was  sug- 
gested no  doubt  by  the  story,  told  at  the  end  of  Plato's 
Republic,   of  Er  the   Pamphylian,  who,   after  a  twelve    vision  of  Er. 
days'  trance,  caused  by  a  wound  received  in  battle,  re- 
turned to  life;  and,  in  revealing  the  secrets  of  the  shades 
below,   told  of  heavenly  bliss   and  hellish  punishments, 
of  the  judgment  seat,  and  of  the  renewal  of  life  and 
the  new  choice  given  to  souls  not  yet  purified  wholly 
of  sin.    The  final  revelation  is:  "God  is  blameless;  man's 
soul  is  immortal:  justice  and  truth  are  the  only  things 
eternally  good."  37 

In  order,  however,  to  obtain  a  complete  and  compre- 
hensive view  of  Plato's  resplendent  doctrines  as  to  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,   involving  the   idea   of  a   con- 

30  De  Repub.,  iii,  22.    A  fragment  preserved  by  Lactantius. 
87  See  J.  Marshall,  Short  History  of  Greek  Philosophy,  p.  150. 


64 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Neither 
dream  nor 
vision  to  be 
considered 
in  isolation. 


One  su- 
preme God. 


scious  personal  existence  in  a  life  beyond  the  grave,  it  is 
necessary  to  consider  the  vision  of  Er,  the  Phaedo  and 
the  Phaedrus  as  a  connected  whole.38  In  order  to  obtain 
a  complete  and  comprehensive  view  of  Cicero's  concep- 
tions on  the  same  subject,  it  is  necessary  to  consider 
Scipio's  dream,  not  in  isolation,  but  in  connection  with 
declarations  contained  in  later  works,  notably  the  Tuscit-  J 
lanae  Disputationes,  the  De  Senectute  and  the  De  Natura 
Deorum. 

Between  the  speculations  of  Plato,  made,  let  us  say, 
about  370  B.C.,  and  those  of  Cicero,  made  between  54 
B.C.  and  44  B.C.,  there  was  an  interval  of  something  more 
than  three  hundred  years.  During  that  interval  it  was 
that  the  new  world-religion  known  as  Stoicism  came  upon; 
the  stage,  reaching  its  maturity  under  Chrysippus  who 
died  about  208  B.C.  By  Panaetius  it  was  carried  to  Rome 
and  there  became  firmly  rooted  between  140  B.C.  and 
1 29  B.C.,  the  date  of  the  death  of  Scipio  the  younger.  And 
so  before  the  time  came  for  Cicero  to  formulate  in  philo- 
sophical and  theological  treatises  the  new  thought  of 
Rome  upon  the  question  of  questions  involving  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul  and  a  higher  life  beyond  the  grave, 
Stoicism  had  practically  annihilated  Pantheism,  so  far 
as  its  followers  were  concerned,  by  the  recognition  of 
one  supreme  God,  "the  supreme  Reason,  the  Logos  or 
Word,  whose  divine  being  permeated  the  universe  .  .  .  I. 
a  first  Cause,  a  Cause  of  causes,  the  initial  link  in  the 
unending  chain  of  events."39  By  that  magnificent  notion  , 
of  one  supreme  God,  creating  and  governing  everything 
through  permanent,  uniform,  and  universal  law,  the 
swarm  of  little  gods  was  practically  annihilated  by  being 

38  Cf.  H.  N.  Fowler,  Plato:  Euthyphro,  Apology,  Crito,  Phaedo,  Phae- 
drus, in  "The  Loeb  Classical  Library." 
89  Arnold,  pp.  218-19. 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE  65 

reduced    to    mere    personifications    of    physical    forces.    Little  gods 
Armed  with  that  new  Stoic  conception  of  a  single  God,   ficatbnsof 
and  with  that  logic  in  which  the  Stoics  were  such  adepts,    physical 
Cicero  was  able  to  re-define  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
and  a  conscious  personal  existence  after  death,  in  a  civic 
heaven  if  you  please,  with  a  distinctness  and  convincing 
power  which  a  dreaming  philosopher  like  Plato,  not  so 
armed,  had  never  been  able  to  impart  to  such  thoughts. 

The  Roman  philosopher  did  not  hesitate  to  say  to  his    Cicero's  defi- 
fellow-man,  You  were  born,  not  by  chance,  but  in  obe-  mtlonso 

'  *  '  immortality. 

dience  to  the  law  of  the  "Lord  and  Father,"  who  will 
not  only  care  for  you  while  you  are  here,  but  will  pro- 
vide for  you  an  eternal  haven  of  rest  and  glory  after 
death.     In  one  place  he  says : 

Whatever  that  principle  is  which  feels,  conceives,   lives,  and 
exists,  it  is  heavenly  and  divine,  and  therefore  must  be  eternal;40 

In  another: 

That  divine  principle,  that  rules  within  us,  forbids  us  to  leave  this 
world  without  the  order  of  the  Divinity ; 41 

In  another: 

The  divine  soul  is  drawn  down  from  its  lofty  home,  and,  so  to  say, 
plunged  into  the  earth,  an  abode  which  is  by  nature  the  antithesis 
of  divinity  and  eternity ; 42 

In  another: 

Therefore  for  many  other  reasons,  the  souls  of  the  good  appear 
to  me  to  be  divine  and  eternal;  but  chiefly  on  this  account,  be- 
:ause  the  soul  of  the  best  and  wisest  has  such  anticipation  of  a 
future  state  of  being,  that  it  seems  to  center  its  thoughts  only  on 
eternity ; 43 

In  another: 
Be  assured  that  for  all  those  who  have  in  any  way  conduced  to  the 

40  Tusc.  Disp.,  i,  27.  *2  De  Settee,  xxi. 

41  Sotn.  Scip.,  3.  43  Pro  Rabirio,  x. 


66 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


preservation,  defense,  and  enlargement  of  their  native  country, 
there  is  certainly  a  place  in  heaven  where  the  blessed  shall  enjoy 
eternal  life.44 

In  another: 

If  I  am  in  error  in  believing  that  the  soul  of  man  is  immortal,  I 
err  willingly;  nor  have  I  any  desire,  while  life  lasts,  to  eradicate 
the  error  in  which  I  take  delight.  But  if,  after  death  (as  some 
small  philosophers  think),  I  shall  feel  nothing,  I  have  no  fear  that 
those  departed  philosophers  will  ridicule  my  error;45 

In  another: 

To  separate  the  soul  from  the  body,  is  to  learn  to  die,  and  nothing 
else  whatever.  Wherefore  take  my  advice ;  and  let  us  meditate  on 
this,  and  separate  ourselves  as  far  as  possible  from  the  body,  that  is 
to  say,  let  us  accustom  ourselves  to  die.  This  will  be  enjoying  a 
life  like  that  of  heaven  even  while  we  remain  on  earth ;  and  when 
we  are  carried  thither  and  released  from  these  bonds,  our  souls  will 
make  their  progress  with  more  rapidity;  for  the  spirit  which  has 
always  been  fettered  by  the  bonds  of  the  body,  even  when  it  is 
disengaged,  advances  more  slowly,  just  as  those  do  who  have  worn 
fetters  for  many  years ; 46 

In  another: 
For  we  have  not  been  framed  or  created,  without  design  nor  by 
chance,  but  there  has  been  truly  some  certain  power,  which  had  in 
view  the  happiness  of  mankind ;  neither  producing,  nor  maintain- 
ing a  being,  which,  when  it  had  completed  all  its  labors,  should 
then  sink  into  the  eternal  misery  of  death.  Rather  let  us  think 
that  there  is  a  haven  and  refuge  prepared  for  us.47 

Advanced  These  lucid  and  enraptured  statements  mark  the  dis- 

beyond  Plato   tj     t  spiritual  advance  made  during  the  three  centuries 

by  the  aid  r 

of  Stoicism,  that  intervene  between  Plato  and  Cicero,  through  the 
application  by  the  latter  to  the  question  of  questions  of 
that  body  of  thought  known  as  Stoicism  which  matured 
after  Plato's  time.     The  Roman  philosopher's  overshad- 


44  Som.  Sap.,  3. 
4B  De  Senec,  xxxiii. 


46  Tusc.  Disp.,  i,  31. 

47  Ibid.,  i,  47. 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE 


67 


tian  Fathers 
and  Petrarch. 


owing  influence  in  the  making  of  that  advance  represents 
the  most  important  outcome  of  his  Greek  culture.  Forty- 
three  years  before  Christ  came  into  the  world  Cicero 
passed  out  of  it,  after  having  formulated,  as  the  foremost 
expounder  of  Roman  Stoicism,  clear  and  definite  con- 
ceptions of  immortality  to  which  the  vague  and  shadowy 
dreams  of  Plato  were  "as  moonlight  is  to  sunlight,  as 
water  unto  wine."  It  is  not  therefore  strange  that  the 
early  Christian  Fathers,  notably  St.  Ambrose,  St.  Jerome  Early  Chris 
and  St.  Augustine,  should  have  been  such  ardent  Cicero- 
nians.  Animated  by  their  spirit  Petrarch  says:  "You 
would  fancy  sometimes  it  was  not  a  pagan  philosopher, 
but  a  Christian  apostle,  who  was  speaking." 

During  the  year  79  B.C.,  six  months  of  which  Cicero 
devoted  to  the  study  of  philosophy  at  Athens  under  the 
direction  of  Antiochus  of  Askalon,  he  also  received  rhe- 
torical instruction  from  the  famous  and  experienced 
teacher,  Demetrius  of  Syria.  It  seems  to  be  clear  that 
while  at  Athens  he,  together  with  his  friend  Atticus,  was 
initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  Eleusis.48  In  the  next  year 
he  crossed  the  Aegean  for  travel  in  Asia.  We  have  in 
his  own  words  this  brief  account  of  his  tour  abroad,  its 
motive,  and  its  results: 

48  In  his  dissertation  On  the  Laws,  ii,  9,  he  says:  "Let  there  be  no 
nocturnal  sacrifices  performed  by  women,  except  those  which  they  offer 
according  to  custom  on  behalf  of  the  people;  and  let  none  be  initiated  in 
the  mysteries  except  by  the  usual  forms  consecrated  to  Ceres,  according 
to  the  Grecian  ceremonials."  Mr.  Collins  in  his  volume  on  Cicero,  in 
"Ancient  Classics  for  English  Readers,"  says  that  the  Eleusinian  mysteries 
"contained  under  this  thin  veil  whatever  faith  in  the  Invisible  and  Eternal 
rested  in  the  mind  of  an  enlightened  pagan."  See  De  Leg.,  ii,  14,  where 
Cicero  says:  "Of  all  the  glories  and  divine  gifts  which  your  Athens  has 
produced  for  the  improvement  of  men,  nothing  surpasses  these  mysteries 
by  which  the  harshness  of  our  uncivilized  life  has  been  softened,  and  we 
have  been  lifted  up  to  humanity;  and  as  they  are  called  initio.,  by  which 
aspirants  were  initiated,  so  we  have  in  truth  found  in  them  the  seeds  of  a 
new  life.  Nor  have  we  received  from  them  only  the  means  of  living  with 
satisfaction,  but  also  of  dying  with  a  better  hope  as  to  the  future." 


From  Athens 
to  Asia. 


68 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Description 
of  his  tour. 


Antiochus 

and 

Demetrius. 


Asiatic 
rhetoricians. 


Molo  of 
Rhodes. 


When  my  friends,  therefore,  and  physicians,  advised  me  to 
engage  no  more  in  forensic  causes,  I  resolved  to  run  any  risk 
rather  than  quit  the  hopes  of  glory  which  I  had  proposed  to 
myself  from  pleading.  When  I  considered  that,  by  managing 
my  voice,  and  changing  my  way  of  speaking,  I  might  both  avoid 
all  future  danger  of  that  kind  and  speak  with  greater  ease,  I 
resolved  to  travel  in  Asia,  merely  for  an  opportunity  to  correct 
my  manner  of  speaking.  So  that  after  I  had  been  two  years  at 
the  bar  and  acquired  some  reputation  in  the  Forum,  I  left  Rome. 

When  I  came  to  Athens,  I  spent  six  months  with  Antiochus, 
the  principal  and  most  judicious  philosopher  of  the  Old  Academy; 
and  under  that  able  master,  I  renewed  those  philosophical  studies 
which  I  had  laboriously  cultivated  and  improved  from  my  earliest 
youth.  At  the  same  time,  however,  I  continued  my  rhetorical 
exercises  under  Demetrius  the  Syrian,  an  experienced  and  reputable 
master  of  the  art  of  speaking. 

After  leaving  Athens,  I  traversed  every  part  of  Asia,  where 
I  was  voluntarily  attended  by  the  principal  orators  of  the  country, 
with  whom  I  renewed  my  rhetorical  exercises.  The  chief  of  them 
was  Menippus  of  Stratonika,  the  most  eloquent  of  all  the  Asiatics ; 
and  if  to  be  neither  tedious  nor  impertinent  is  the  characteristic 
of  an  Attic  orator,  he  may  be  justly  ranked  in  that  class.  Diony- 
sius  of  Magnesia,  Aeschylus  of  Cnidos,  and  Xenocles  of  Adra- 
myttium,  who  were  esteemed  the  first  rhetoricians  of  Asia,  were 
continually  with  me.  Not  contented  with  these,  I  went  to  Rhodes, 
and  applied  myself  again  to  Molo,  whom  I  had  heard  before  at 
Rome,  and  who  was  both  an  experienced  pleader  and  a  fine 
writer,  and  particularly  judicious  in  remarking  the  faults  of  his 
scholars,  as  well  as  in  his  method  of  teaching  and  improving  them. 
His  principal  trouble  with  me  was  to  restrain  the  luxuriance 
of  a  youthful  imagination,  always  ready  to  overflow  its  banks, 
within  its  due  and  proper  channel. 

Thus,  after  an  excursion  of  two  years,  I  returned  to  Italy, 
not  only  much  improved,  but  almost  changed  into  a  new  man. 
The  vehemence  of  my  voice  and  action  was  considerably  abated; 
the  excessive  ardor  of  my  language  was  corrected ;  my  lungs  were 
strengthened;  and  rny  whole  constitution  confirmed  and  settled.49 


49  Brut.,  91. 


CICERO'S  GREEK  CULTURE  69 

Cicero's  reference  to  his  visit  to  Rhodes  suggests  the  Posidonius. 
name  of  the  famous  Stoic  philosopher  Posidonius,  a  pupil 
of  Panaetius,  who,  next  to  his  master,  did  more  perhaps 
than  any  other  to  spread  Stoicism  throughout  the  Roman 
world.  After  he  had  settled  down  as  a  teacher  at 
Rhodes,50  attracting  thither  many  students,  he  became 
well  known  to  many  leading  Romans,  such  as  Marius, 
Rutilius  Rufus,  Pompey,  and  Cicero.  From  Rhodes  he 
came  to  Rome  on  a  mission  in  86  B.C.  not  long  before  the 
death  of  Marius.  That  he  made  a  profound  impression 
upon  the  rising  statesman  there  can  be  no  doubt.  When  Greek 
Cicero  wrote  his  Greek  memoir  on  his  consulate   (-repl  cicenft 

VTrareias)    he  Sent  it  to  Posidonius  who  was  tO  Compose   a    consulate. 

more  formal  and  finished  work  on  that  basis.    In  a  letter 
to  Atticus  he  says : 

I  sent  my  memoir  to  Posidonius,  that  he  might  use  it  as  a 
foundation  of  a  more  eloquent  treatise  on  the  same  subject;  but 
he  writes  back  to  me  from  Rhodes  that,  when  he  read  my  book, 
far  from  being  encouraged  to  write,  he  felt  himself  fairly  warned 
off  the  ground.  Now  you  see !  I  have  discomfited  the  whole  tribe 
of  Greeks,  and  so  the  lot  of  them,  who  used  to  press  me  for 
material  which  they  might  work  up,  have  ceased  to  bother  me.61 

Cicero  seems  to  have  made  use  of  the  writing  of  Posi- 
donius in  De  Natura  Deorum,  ii ;  De  Divinatione,  i ;  and 
in  the  first  half  of  the  Tusculanae  Disputationes.52  The 
story  goes  that  on  his  return  from  Rhodes  to  Italy  he 
stopped  at  Delphi  where  he  is  said  to  have  asked  "how  visit  to 
he  might  become  very  famous."  We  may  fancy  that  the  DelPhl- 
secret  was  revealed  to  him,  despite  his  incredulity  as  to 
the  divination  emanating  from  that  source.53 

80  He   is   often    described    as    "of   Rhodes,"    although    he   came   from 
Apamea  in  Syria. 
61  Ad  Att.,  ii,  1. 

52  Cf.  Schmekel,  Die  Phil,  der  mitt.  Stoa,  1892,  p.  98,  etc. 
63  Cf.  De  Div.,  ii,  32. 


CHAPTER  IV 


At  the  age 
of  sixteen 
Cicero 
assumed  the 
toga  virilis. 


Presented  by 
his  father  to 
Scaevola, 
the  augur. 


Family  of 
the  Mucii 
and  gratu- 
itous law 
teaching. 


THE  ROMAN  BAR  IN  CICERO'S  TIME 

Having  traced  the  growth  of  Cicero's  Greek  culture 
from  his  youthful  beginnings  under  the  poet  Archias 
down  to  his  return  from  his  first  tour  abroad,  let  us  go 
back  to  the  year  91  B.C.,  when,  in  his  sixteenth  year,  he 
was  brought,  according  to  custom,  before  the  praetor  in 
the  Forum,  in  order  that  he  might  there  lay  aside  his 
boyish  dress,  toga  praetexta,  for  the  toga  virilis,  the 
badge  of  incipient  manhood,  the  token  of  his  introduc- 
tion into  public  life.  While  we  do  not  know  whether 
his  father  was  present  on  that  solemn  occasion,  Cicero 
tells  us  expressly  that  immediately  thereafter  he  pre- 
sented him  to  one  of  the  most  famous  jurists  of  that  time, 
the  venerable  Quintus  Mucius  Scaevola,  known  as  the 
augur,  who  had  been  consul  as  early  as  117  B.C.: 

My  father,  immediately  after  I  had  put  on  the  dress  of  man- 
hood, introduced  me  to  him,  instructing  me  that,  so  far  as  I  found 
it  possible  and  was  permitted  to  do  so,  I  should  remain  continu- 
ally at  his  side.  And  so  I  committed  to  memory  many  of  his  wise 
discourses  and  pithy  sayings,  and  strove  to  learn  from  his  wisdom.1 

Like  all  who  aspired  to  the  great  offices  of  state, 
Scaevola  had  sought  popularity  by  undertaking  gratui- 
tously the  advocacy  of  causes  in  the  courts  of  justice,  and 
by  giving  gratuitous  advice  on  points  of  law  to  all  who 
desired  it.  To  that  was  added  gratuitous  law  teaching, 
the  family  of  the  Mucii  having  been  famous  for  expert 

1  De  Amicit.,  i. 
70 


THE  ROMAN  BAR  IN  CICERO'S  TIME  yi 

knowledge    in    the    civil  law    for    several    generations. 
Apart  from  pleading  in  the  courts,  a  Roman  jurist  was 
expected  to  occupy  himself  with  consultations,   reading, 
and  authorship.     Thus  the  house  of  every  jurisconsult  The  open 
was  always  open  not  only  to  suitors  but  to  students,  who   ju  "^consult, 
came  to  listen  to  the  responsa  prudentium  or  legal  opin- 
ions,  generally  delivered  in  the   form  of  familiar  con- 
versations.2    It  was  the  business  of  the  student  to  take   Duties  of  a 
notes  of  all  such  deliverances  of  the  master,  and  to  com-    awstu  ent# 
mit  his  sayings  or  maxims  to  memory,  following  him  to 
the  Rostra  when  he  addressed  the  people,   and  to  the 
courts  when  he  pleaded  as  an  advocate.     Under  such  a 
system   of  instruction,   widely  different   from   our  own, 
Cicero,  together  with  his  friend  Atticus,  was  admitted 
into  the  atrium  of  Scaevola  who,  at  daybreak,  held  con- 
ferences with  his  consulting  clients,  which  all  were   at 
liberty  to  attend.     In  the  De  Orator e  (i,  45)  we  read: 

For  what  is  more  noble  than  for  an  old  man,  who  has  held  the  Tribute  to 

highest  honors  and  offices  in  the  state,  to  be  able  justly  to  say  Qulntus 

for  himself  that  which  the  Pythian  Apollo  says  in  Ennius:  that  ;nthe 

he  is  the  person  from  whom,  if  not  nations  and  kings,  yet  all  his  De  Oratore. 
fellow-citizens,  solicit  advice  — 

Uncertain  how  to  act;  whom  by  my  aid, 

I  send  away  undoubting,  full  of  counsel, 

No  more  with  rashness  things  perplex'd  to  sway  — 

For  without  doubt  the  house  of  an  eminent  lawyer  is  the  oracle 
of  the  whole  state.  Of  this  fact  the  gate  and  vestibule  of  our 
I  friend  Quintus  Mucius  is  a  proof.  Even  in  his  very  infirm 
state  of  health  and  advanced  age,  it  is  daily  frequented  by  a  vast 
crowd  of  citizens,  and  by  persons  of  the  highest  rank  and  con- 
sequence. 

There  had  been  a  time  when  the  Twelve  Tables  were 
taught  every  schoolboy,   who   was   compelled   to   learn 

2  See  the  author's  Science  of  Jurisprudence,  p.  91. 


72 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Twelve 

Tables 

superseded 

by  the 

edict  in 

law  teaching. 


Scaevola 
the  pontifex 
maximus. 


Father  of 
Roman  law 
because  its 
first  codifier. 


Declared 
dishonorable 
contracts 
invalid. 


them  as  a  necessary  lesson  or  "song."  But  certainly 
before  the  close  of  Cicero's  life,  the  edict,  the  "living 
voice  of  the  civil  law,"  3  had  taken  the  place  of  the  "song 
of  the  Twelve  Tables"  in  the  education  of  the  youth  of 
Rome.4 

After  the  death  of  his  first  instructor  in  the  civil  law, 
who  was  a  leader  among  the  Stoics,  Cicero  attached  him- 
self to  another  of  that  sect,  Quintus  Mucius  Scaevola, 
the  younger,  a  nephew  of  the  augur.  The  new  teacher, 
who  was  pontifex  maximus,  occupies  a  much  more  con- 
spicuous place  in  the  history  of  Roman  law  than  the  old 
one  as  he  was  the  only  jurist  of  the  Republic  from  whose 
works  the  makers  of  the  Digest  drew  any  direct  extract.5 
He  has  been  called  the  father  of  Roman  law  because  he 
was  the  first  to  codify  it  in  eighteen  volumes.6  He  also 
wrote  a  book  on  definitions,  reflecting  no  doubt  the  in- 
terest felt  by  the  Stoics  in  that  part  of  logic.  He  was 
consul  in  95  B.C.,  and  after  his  consulship  he  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Asia,  joining  in  that  capacity  with 
his  former  quaestor,  Rutilius  Rufus,  in  an  attempt  to 
repress  the  extortions  of  the  -publicum.  He  took  a 
decisive  step  in  declaring  all  dishonorable  contracts 
invalid.7  When  the  equites  brought  Rutilius  to  trial  in 
92  B.C.,  Scaevola  defended  him  with  the  simple  dignity 

8  Marcian  in  Dig.,  i,  i,  8:  "nam  et  ipsum  jus  honorarium  viva  vox  est 
juris  civilis." 

4  "Non  ergo  a  praetoris  edicto,  ut  plerique  nunc,  neque  a  xil  Tabulis,  ut 
superiores  ....  hauriendam  juris  disciplinam  putas."  —  De  Leg.,  i,  5. 
See  also  De  Leg.,  ii,  23:  "discebamus  enim  pueri  xii,  ut  carmen  necessa- 
rium:  quas  jam  nemo  discit."  Cf.  A.  H.  J.  Greenidge,  Roman  Public  Life, 
p.  205,  notes  2  and  3. 

0  H.  J.  Roby,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Justinian's  Digest,  etc.,  p.  exxiii, 
Cambridge,  1884. 

6  Pomponius,  I.  c,  §41. 

7  "Ego  habeo  [exceptionem]  tectiorem  ex.  Q.  Mucii,  P.  F.  edicto  Asiatico; 
extra  quam  si  ita  negotium  gestum  est,  ut  eo  start  non  oporteat  ex  fide  bona; 
multaque  sum  secutus  Scaevolae."  —  Ad  Att.,  vi,  1.    See  Arnold,  p.  384. 


THE  ROMAN  BAR  IN  CICERO'S  TIME  73 

of  a  Stoic,  without  disregarding  entirely  the  graces  of 
elegance.8 

In  making  his  famous  codification  of  Roman  law  the 
pontifex  departed  from  the  traditional  method  of  merely 
interpreting  the  words  of  the  statutes  or  formulas  relat- 
ing to  procedure  or  juristic  acts.  Instead,  he  arranged, 
for  the  first  time,  the  positive  law  of  Rome  according 
to  the  subject  dealt  with,  thus  laying  a  permanent  foun- 
dation for  the  labors  of  his  successor.  Rising  above  the 
mere  discussion  of  isolated  cases  or  questions  of  law,  he 
began  the  development  of  legal  science  by  defining  in  Hiscontri- 
clear  and  definite  terms  the  nature  of  such  legal  institu-  waTscience. 
tions  as  wills,  legacies,  guardianships,  sales,  hiring,  and 
the  like,  and  their  various  genera. 

Through   the   definition   and   employment  of   general 
legal  conceptions  he  was  the  first  to  lift  Roman  private 
law  above  all  the  complexities  of  detail.9     Thus  as  the 
Republican  period  drew  to  a  close,  the  responses  of  the 
pontifices,  by  which  the  development  of  law  had  mainly 
been  carried  on  during  the  earlier  part  of  it,  began  to 
assume  a  form  which  must  have  been  fatal  to  their  fur- 
ther expansion.     By  such  treatises  as  that  of  Scaevola 
they  were  systematized  and  reduced  to  compendia.     In 
the  writings  of  Cicero  can  be  traced  a  growing  dislike 
'for  the  older  methods  as  compared  with  the  more  active 
i  instruments  of  legal  innovation.     By  this  time  the  edict,   Edict  of  the 
or  annual  proclamation  of  the  praetor  had  gained  credit   engine^f11 
jas  the  principal  engine  of  law  reform.    Therefore  Cicero    legal  reform, 
tells  us,  as  before  stated,  that  certainly  in  his  later  years, 

8  "Dixit  causam   illam  quadam   ex  parte   Q.  Mucius,  more  suo,  nullo 
adparatu,  pure  et  dilucide."  —  De  Orat.,  i,  53. 

9  As  to  Scaevola's  work,  see  von  P.  Kruger,  Geschichte  der  Quellen  und 
\Litteratur  des  Romischen  Rechts,  Berlin,   1888,   pp.   59,   60;   Burckhardt, 

Zeitschrift  der  Savigny  Stiftung  fur  Rechts  geschichte,  herausg.  von  Bruns, 
Bekker,  u.  Roth.  Weimar,  1880,  and  subsequently,  ix,  286ff. 


74 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero's 
resolve  to 
win  senato- 
rial dignity. 


Roman  bar 
as  a  stepping- 
stone. 


the  Twelve  Tables  were  neglected  by  the  boys  in  school 
who  were  directed  instead  to  the  praetor's  edict  for  their 
first  lessons  in  law.10 

In  removing  to  the  city,  Cicero's  father,  a  man  of 
culture  and  some  fortune,  whose  ambition  was  centered 
entirely  in  his  sons,  hoped,  no  doubt,  that  they  would 
thus  be  enabled  to  enter  politics,  and,  in  that  way,  estab- 
lish senatorial  families.  At  the  age  of  52,  Marcus,  in 
a  letter  to  Quintus,  said: 

It  cuts  me  to  the  heart,  my  dearest  brother,  to  the  heart,  to 
think  that  there  is  no  Republic,  no  law  courts,  and  that  my 
present  life,  which  ought  to  have  been  in  full  bloom  of  sena- 
torial dignity,  is  distracted  with  the  labors  of  the  Forum  or  eked 
out  by  private  studies,  and  that  the  object  on  which  from  boy- 
hood I  had  set  my  heart, 

"Far  to  excel,  and  tower  above  the  crowd," 
is  entirely  gone.11 

To  win  senatorial  dignity  was  Cicero's  dominating 
ambition  from  his  boyhood,  and  to  that  eminence  there 
was  but  one  road  open  to  him  —  the  Roman  bar  which, 
in  the  better  days  of  the  Republic,  was  looked  upon  as 

10  Servius  Sulpicius,  a  contemporary  of  Cicero,  born  about  106  B.C.,  is 
said  to  have  been  the  greatest  jurist  of  the  Republican  period.  See  Brut., 
xl-xlii.  As  to  his  works,  see  Pompon.,  1.  c,  43,  44.  His  pupil  was  Aulus 
Ofilius,  often  called  the  Tribonian  of  the  Republican  period,  who  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  consulted  by  Julius  Caesar  as  to  his  great  but  unrealized 
plan  for  a  codification  of  Roman  law.  On  that  subject,  see  Sanio,  Rechts- 
historische  Adhandlnngen  u.  Studien  (Konigsberg,  1845),  pp.  68-126. 
Gibbon  says:  "The  jurisprudence  which  had  been  grossly  adapted  to  the 
wants  of  the  first  Romans  was  polished  and  improved  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury of  the  city  by  the  alliance  of  Grecian  philosophy.  The  Scaevolas  had 
been  taught  by  use  and  experience;  but  Servius  Sulpicius  was  the  first 
civilian  who  established  his  art  on  a  certain  and  general  theory.  For  the 
discernment  of  truth  and  falsehood,  he  applied,  as  an  infallible  rule,  the 
logic  of  Aristotle  and  the  Stoics,  reduced  particular  cases  to  general  prin- 
ciples, and  diffused  over  the  shapeless  mass  the  light  of  order  and 
eloquence."  —  Decline  and  Fall,  vol.  iv,  p.  457. 

11  Cicero,  Ad  Quintum  Fratrem,  iii,  5-6.  The  quotation  is  from  Homer, 
Iliad,  vi,  208: 

iroWbv  dpiareveiv  /cat  vireipoxov  i/i/j.eva.i  &\\ui>. 


THE  ROMAN  BAR  IN  CICERO'S  TIME  75 

a  stepping  stone,  an  initiation  into  the  great  offices  of 
state  through  which  a  seat  in  the  Senate  could  be  secured. 
To  be  a  leader  of  the  Roman  bar  at  the  time  in  question 
was  to  be  a  great  actor  on  the  brilliantly  lighted  stage 
set  in  the  midst  of  a  Forum  whose  history  is  a  part  of 
the  history  of  the  world. 

In  the  time  of  the  Republic,  Rome  had  but  one  Forum 
which,  when  viewed  in  a  comprehensive  way,  was  an 
open-air  theatre  in  which  was  enacted  in  the  presence  of 
the  assembled  people  the  great  events  in  her  political 
and  juristic  life.  That  Forum  Romanum  or  Magnum,  The  Forum 
as  it  was  afterward  called  to  distinguish  it  from  the  or°^"„^m 
imperial  fora,  occupied  a  valley  which  extended  from 
the  foot  of  the  Capitoline  Hill  to  the  northeast  part  of 
the  Palatine,  and  in  early  times  it  was  bounded  on  two 
sides  by  rows  of  shops  and  houses,  dating  from  the  era 
of  the  first  Tarquin.  As  the  city  grew,  the  Forum  was 
developed  into  a  vast  quadrilateral,  inclosed  by  a  kind 
of  open  porticoes  or  promenades,  created  by  the  erection 
of  double  rows  of  columns,  so  separated  as  to  admit  of 
easy  circulation,  and  supporting  at  the  same  time  archi- 
traves, on  which  galleries  were  constructed. 

In  the  great  days  of  Hortensius  and  Cicero,  discus-    Forensic 
sions  in  the  Forum  were  a  kind  of  fete,  attended  by  all   dJscussl0"s  a 

*  kind  of  fete. 

classes  of  citizens  and  strangers,  constituting  a  crowd  so 

.  vast  as  to  overflow  its  limits  into  the  surrounding  temples 

1  of  Saturn  of  Vesta  of  Castor  and  Pollux  and  of  Peace 

1 

i  or  Concordia,  extending  at  times  even  to  the  galleries 

'  of  private  residences.12 

12  For  all  details  connected  with  this  branch  of  the  subject,  I  refer  to 
',  the  brilliant  and  invaluable  work,  Le  Barreau  Romain,  by  Grellet- 
i  Dumazeau,    2d    ed.,    Paris,    1858,    especially    to    i,    Origine    du    Barreau 

Romain,  p.  35;  v,  Costume  de  I'avocat,  p.  107;  vi,  Des  honoraires,  p.  113; 

ix,  L'avocat  a  I'audience,  p.   156;  xi,  Duree  des  plaidoiries  et  comment 

itaient  r ecu  el lies,  p.  184.. 


76 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Forum  a 
great 
popular 
university. 


Advocate, 
robed  in  his 
toga,  attend- 
ed by  a  juris- 
consult and 
secretary.  . 


Curule  chair 
of  the 
praetor. 


All  men  of  all  ranks  are  present,  and  of  all  ages;  the  Forum  is 
full,  the  temples  around  the  Forum  are  full,  all  the  approaches  to 
this  place  and  to  this  temple  are  full.13 

While  there  was  a  structure  known  as  the  Middle 
Forum  (Forum  Medium),  so  conveniently  situated  that 
it  could  be  used  in  the  event  of  storms,  the  people  accus- 
tomed to  the  brilliant  climate  of  Italy,  preferred  that  the 
debates,  certainly  in  the  great  criminal  trials,  should  take 
place  in  the  open  court  of  the  Forum,  "sub  Jove  frigido 
aut  torrido." 

Here  then  was  the  great  popular  university  of  Rome 
in  which  the  citizens  acquired  the  most  practical  part  of 
their  political  and  juristic  education;  here  it  was  that  the 
best  orators  displayed  the  fruits  of  long  and  patient  train- 
ing under  Greek  and  Oriental  rhetoricians;  here  it  was 
that  the  populus  Romanus,  accustomed  to  oratory  of  the 
highest  order,  became  almost  as  critical  as  the  patrician 
Senate. 

Into  the  Forum  the  advocate,  in  English  parlance  the 
barrister,  went  robed  in  his  toga,  attended  generally  by 
a  jurisconsult,  a  secretary,  and  his  numerous  clients.  In 
that  day  as  in  this,  few  distinguished  orators  were  will- 
ing to  assume  the  responsibility  of  a  great  cause  unas- 
sisted by  a  jurisconsult  or  legal  adviser,  charged  with 
the  duty  of  examining  the  facts  and  the  law  applicable 
to  them,  and  of  making  suggestions  as  to  the  best  man- 
ner of  presenting  the  various  points  involved.  The  tri- 
bunal consisted  of  the  stage  upon  which  the  curule 
chair14  of  the  praetor  was  placed  in  front  of  a  spear  and 

13  In  Catilinam,  iv,  7. 

14  Being  made  of  wood,  these  tribunals  could  be  removed  when  the 
entire  area  of  the  Forum  was  required  for  gladiatorial  or  other  purposes. 
—  Pro  Sestio,  15;  Pro  Cluentio,  34;  In  Pisone,  5;  Hor.,  Sat.,  ii,  6,  35; 
Asconius,  Ad  Cic.  Niel.  Arg.,  p.  34.    The  trial  had  to  begin  after  daybreak 


* 


THE  ROMAN  BAR  IN  CICERO'S  TIME  77 

sword,   as  emblems  of  authority.     If  the  trial  was   a 
criminal  one,  then  the  praetor  was  assisted  by  judices,  The  judices 
judges,   taken   from   an  annual  list   and  drawn  by  lot  naicases. 
(sortitio). 

As  will  be  explained  hereafter,  the  classes  from  which 
the  judices  were  taken  varied,  as  did  also  their  number. 
In  the  famous  case  of  Clodius  the  number  was  fifty-six. 
After  the  judices  were  selected,  subject  to  certain  chal- 
lenges, and  sworn,  they  took  their  seats  arranged  in  a 
semicircle  below  that  of  the  praetor.15     To  the  left  of 
the  judices  and  a  few  steps  distant  from  them  sat  the 
accused.     The  accuser  sat  on  the  opposite  side,  Roman 
ilaw  knowing  no  such  thing  as  an  official  prosecutor.16   No  official 
The   advocate,    his    secretaries,17   and   jurisconsult   took  pros 
itheir  places  at  the  bar,  near  the  accused.     The  accuser 
[opened   and   the    advocate    for   the    defense   closed,    it 
Ibeing  the  better  opinion  that  there  was  no  reply.18     It 
was   therefore    important   to    every   advocate    that   the 
praetor,    who    formulated   the   question   for   discussion, 
should  so  present  it  as  to  give  to  his  client  the  conclu- 
sion. 

After  the  introduction  of  Greek  methods,  the  orations  Formal 
were  rigorously  divided  into  parts,  each  oration  consist-   anoration. 
ing  of  the  exordium,  narration,  confirmation,  refutation, 
and  peroration.     At  the  moment  of  the  delivery  of  the 

and  end  an  hour  before  sunset.  The  place  of  trial  was  the  Forum  — 
"forum  plenum  judicorum."  In  Verr.,  v,  55,  143.  See  also  the  lex  Acilia, 
"»  37.  38,  65,  66. 

15  As  to  the  growth  of  Roman  criminal  law  and  the  quaestiones  fer- 
petuae,  see  the  author's  Science  of  Jurisprudence,  pp.  591-92;  Maine, 
ph.  v. 

16  Pro  Caecin,  xxix  and  lix;  Quintil.,  vi,  1.  As  to  the  method  of  his 
^election  by  the  court,  see  the  preliminary  procedure  in  the  case  of  Verres, 
IP-  140- 

17  Cicero,  In  Verrem,  ii,  10. 

18  Grellet-Dumazeau,  p.  165. 


78 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Artifices  to 

excite 

sympathy. 


Trials  of 
Aquilius 
and  Galba. 


Congratula- 
tions and 
applause  of 
advocate. 


last,  the  advocate  was  expected  to  put  forth  his  entire 
strength,  supplemented  by  every  artifice  calculated  to 
excite  the  sympathy  of  the  court.  One  would  hold  a 
child  in  his  arms  as  he  walked  around  the  tribunal;  an- 
other would  uncover  the  infected  wounds  of  his  clients; 
while  still  another,  pleading  for  a  young  girl  whom 
the  opposing  party  refused  to  recognize  as  his  sister, 
carried  his  client  to  the  brother's  seat  and  there  thrust 
her  into  his  arms.  On  one  occasion  an  advocate 
pleading  for  a  widow  had  placed  behind  him  a  por- 
trait of  the  deceased  husband,  feeble  and  deformed, 
from  which  his  agents  were  told  to  lift  the  veil  whenever 
by  a  cast  of  his  eyes  he  indicated  that  his  peroration  had 
begun. 

A  notable  performance  of  that  kind  occurred  at  the 
trial  of  Manius  Aquilius,  an  old  consul  accused  of  ex- 
tortion. Just  as  he  was  about  to  be  condemned  his  advo- 
cate, after  forcing  him  to  rise  from  his  seat,  tore  open  his 
tunic  and  thus  revealed  many  scars  of  wounds  received 
in  defense  of  the  Republic.  Judges  and  advocates  were 
moved  to  tears,  and  the  accused  acquitted.19  By  the 
same  kind  of  an  artifice  Galba  succeeded  in  escaping  a 
menacing  accusation.  At  the  critical  moment  his  chil- 
dren were  brought  before  the  tribunal,  where  he  declared 
solemnly  that  before  leaving  them  he  desired  to  confide 
them  to  the  care  of  the  Roman  people. 

When  the  pleading  was  over  the  clients  and  friends 
of  the  advocate  would  press  around  him  with  congratu- 
lations.20 If  the  public  had  been  moved  he  was  saluted 
with  acclamations.  Even  while  the  oration  was  being 
delivered,  applause  was  sometimes  indulged  in.  We 
know  that  such  was  the  custom  in  the  time  of  Cicero 

19  De  Oral.,  ii,  47.  20  Quintil.,  xii,  10. 


THE  ROMAN  BAR  IN  CICERO'S  TIME 


79 


because  Quintilian  says  that  the  orator,  during  his 
pleading  for  Cornelius  Balbus,  was  applauded  by  his 
auditors,  velut  mente  captos  et  quo  essent  in  loco 
ignaros.21 

Most  people  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the  pro-   stenograph- 
ceedings  of   Roman  tribunals  were   taken   down  by  an   ,creP°rters- 
organized  body  of  reporters  known  as  notarii,  actuarii, 
scribae,   exceptores,   amanuenses,   some   of  whom   were 
stenographic     reporters.22      Quintilian     (xi,     2)     says: 
Habeamus  enim  sane  ut  qui  notis  scribunt,  certas  ima- 
gines.     Such   of   these   scribes  as   were   clothed   in    an 
official  character,   and  some  who  were  not,  took  down 
the  statements  of  parties,  the  depositions  of  witnesses, 
and  made  stenographic  reports  of  the  speeches.     To  the 
great   skill   of   such   scribes   Martial   pays   this   tribute: 
Currant  verba  licet,  manus  est  velocior  illis.     Accord- 
ing to  Plutarch  such  stenographic  reports  were  first  made   Such  reports 
during  the  consulship  of  Cicero,  who  says  that  the  speech   |jrst.made 
for  Messala  by  his  great  friend  and  contemporary,  Hor-  Cicero's 
tensius,  was  taken  down  on  the  spot,  word  for  word.23   consu  s  ip' 
Copies  of  addresses  so  reported  were  often  sent  to  the 
provinces  by  the  younger  members  of  the  bar. 

It  is  not  therefore  strange  that  they  should  have  been 
carefully  prepared  beforehand  by  the  advocates,  most 
of  whom  spoke  from  notes,  many  writing  out  the  more 
important  parts  of  the  discourse  in  full.  Cicero  scarcely 
ever  failed  to  make  such  preparation,  following  it,  after 
the  close,  with  a  careful  revision  that  excluded  all  care- 

21viii,  5;  Pliny,  Efistolae,  ii,  14;  vii,  6;  Martial,  Epigrammata, 
iii,  46. 

22  "II  existait  pres  les  tribunaux  des  teneurs  de  notes  ou  greffiers  charges 
de  coustater  les  dires  des  parties  et  les  declarations  de  temoins  (5)  ;  ils 
itaient  organises  et  formaient  une  corporation."  —  Le  Barreau  Romain, 
p.  196. 

23  Brut.,  96. 


8o 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


revised 
speech  for 
Milo. 


lessness  of  expressions  and  inelegancies  of  style.  Nota- 
His  carefully  bly  in  the  case  of  Milo  the  revised  version  of  his  speech 
as  published  by  him  was  so  much  more  eloquent  than 
the  stenographic  report,  which  came  to  the  hands  of 
Asconius  and  Quintilian,  that  the  exiled  Milo,  when  he 
saw  it  at  Marseilles,  exclaimed:  "O  Cicero!  if  you  had 
only  spoken  as  you  have  written,  I  would  not  now  be  i 
eating  the  very  excellent  fish  of  Marseilles."  24  As  will 
be  explained  hereafter  the  five  famous  orations  against 
Verres  were  never  spoken  at  all.  They  were  published 
afterward  as  they  had  been  prepared,  and  as  they  would 
have  been  spoken  if  Verres  had  made  a  regular  defense. 
There  can  be  no  question  that  Cicero's  published  speeches 
exercised  an  immense  influence  on  public  opinion. 

When  we  consider  the  extent  of  their  possessions  and 
the  luxurious  splendor  of  their  lives,  it  is  certain  that 
the  professional  incomes  of  Cicero  and  Hortensius  must  \ 
have  been  enormous.    An  account  will  hereafter  be  given 
of  the  great  mansion  purchased  by  Cicero  on  the  Pala- 
tine, built  by  the   Roman  millionaire  Crassus,   and  of 
the  procession  of  villas,  extending  from  the  north  to  the  fl 
south,  and  situated  near  the  towns  of  Tusculum,  Antium, 
Asturia,  Sinuessa,  Arpinum,   Formiae,   Cumae,   Puteoli, 
and  Pompeii  —  the  first  and  favorite  one  having  been   J 
bought  with  borrowed  money. 

And  yet  despite  such  an  array  of  town  and  country 
houses,  Cicero  seems  to  have  been  surpassed  in  extrava- 
gance by  his  senior  Hortensius.  One  of  his  many  villas 
was  also  situated  near  Tusculum  in  which  he  had  accu- 
mulated a  gallery  of  costly  pictures.  It  is  said  that  he 
even  watered  some  of  his  plants  with  wine.  In  his 
Laurentian   villa    famous    for   its   magnificent   park,    he 

24  Cassius  Dion,  xl,  54. 


Villas  of 
Hortensius 
and  Cicero, 


THE  ROMAN  BAR  IN  CICERO'S  TIME 


81 


collected  at  great  cost,  a  vast  variety  of  animals.  But 
of  all  his  villas  that  of  Pauli  near  Baiae,  the  fashionable 
watering  place  frequented  by  the  Roman  aristocracy,  was 
the  most  famous  by  reason  of  its  immense  reservoirs  for 
the  preservation  and  culture  of  fish,  in  whose  care  a 
large  number  of  fishermen  were  employed.25 

As  an  epicure  and  arbiter  of  fashion  in  matters  of 
luxury  and  taste  Hortensius,  who  was  the  first  among 
the  Romans  to  serve  peacocks  on  his  table,  was  at  the 
head  of  the  list.  While  his  house  on  the  Palatine  was 
not  so  pretentious  as  some  of  his  villas,  it  was  found  to 
be  good  enough  to  serve  as  a  residence  for  Augustus.26 
In  order  to  maintain  such  almost  oriental  magnificence 
it  was  necessary  for  Hortensius  and  Cicero  to  derive 

S  enormous  compensation  from  their  professional  services, 
either  in  the  form  of  presents  or  legacies,  despite  the 
finally  innocuous  Lex  Cincia,  de  donis  et  muneribus ,  also 

I  called  Lex  muneralis,  designed  to  make  such  services 
gratuitous.     And  here  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  reproduce 

|  Cicero's  own  estimate  of  himself  as  compared  with  Cotta 

l  and  Hortensius.     In  the  Brutus  he  says: 

Two  orators  then  reigned  in  the  Forum  (I  mean  Cotta  and 
Hortensius),  whose  glory  fired  my  ambition.  Cotta's  way  of 
I  speaking  was  calm  and  easy  and  distinguished  by  the  flowing 
elegance  and  propriety  of  his  language.  The  other  was  splendid, 
|  warm,  and  animated ;  not  so  much  as  you,  my  Brutus,  have  seen 
j  him,  when  he  had  shed  the  blossom  of  his  eloquence,  but  far  more 
'lively  and  pathetic  both  in  his  style  and  action.     As  Hortensius, 

25  Valerius  Maximus,  Factorum  et  Dictorum  Memorabilium  Libri,  ix, 
1I4,  1;   Varro,  Re  Rustica,  iii,   81,   17;   Pliny,  Historic  Naturalis,  ix,   55; 

Suetonius,  Augustus,  72;  Brut.,  88  sqq. 

26  Not  until  after  his  victory  at  Actium  did  Augustus  build  the  Imperial 
•  Palace,  having  purchased  for  that  purpose  several  neighboring  houses, 
i among  them  that  which  had  belonged  to  Catiline.  Velleius  Paterculus,  ii, 
!8i ;  Suetonius,  De  lllustribus  Grammaticis,  xvii ;  T.  H.  Dyer,  City  of  Rome: 
History  and  Monuments,  p.  199. 


Hortensius 
as  an  epicure 
and  arbiter 
of  fashion. 


Enormous 
compensation 
despite  the 
Lex  Cincia. 


Cicero's 
estimate  of 
Cotta  and 
Hortensius. 


82  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

therefore,  was  nearer  to  my  age,  and  his  manner  more  agreeable 
to  the  natural  order  of  my  temper,  I  considered  him  as  the  proper 

object  of  my  competition 

After  his  consulship  (I  suppose  because  he  saw  that  he  was 
beyond  comparison  the  first  speaker  among  the  consulars  and 
took  no  account  of  those  who  had  not  attained  that  dignity), 
Hortensius  relaxed  the  efforts  which  he  had  exerted  from  his 
boyhood  up,  and  being  well  off  in  every  way  chose  to  pass  his 
time  more  agreeably,  as  he  thought,  or  at  any  rate  less  laboriously. 
Just  as  the  brilliancy  fades  from  the  coloring  of  an  old  picture, 
so  the  first,  the  second,  and  the  third  year  each  robbed  him  of 
something  not  noticeable  by  a  casual  observer,  but  which  an  edu- 
cated and  discerning  critic  could  detect.  ....  When,  therefore, 
the  once  eloquent  and  admired  Hortensius,  had  almost  vanished 
from  the  Forum,  my  appointment  to  the  consulship,  which  hap- 
pened about  six  years  after  his  own  promotion  to  that  office, 
revived  his  dying  ambition;  for  he  was  unwilling  that  after  I  had 
equalled  him  in  rank  and  dignity  I  should  become  his  superior 
in  any  other  respect.  But  in  the  twelve  succeeding  years,  by  a 
mutual  deference  to  each  other's  abilities,  we  united  our  efforts 
at  the  bar  in  the  most  friendly  manner;  and  my  consulship,  which 
had  at  first  given  a  short  alarm  to  his  jealousy,  afterwards 
cemented  our  friendship,  by  the  generous  candor  with  which  he 
applauded  my  conduct.27 

Necessity  for  In  the  light  of  what  has  now  been  said  as  to  the  possi- 
bility of  winning  both  fame  and  fortune  at  the  Roman 
bar,  is  it  strange  that  Quintilian  should  have  declared 
that  every  ambitious  Roman  father  was  eager  for  his 
son  to  become  an  advocate?  Certainly  no  exception  was 
to  be  found  in  Cicero's  father,  who  did  all  in  his  power 
to  advance  his  son's  ambition.  And  yet  both  perfectly 
understood  the  difficulties  that  beset  the  undertaking; 
difficulties  only  to  be  removed,  even  by  the  possessor  of 
transcendent  natural  talents,  through  thorough  training 
not  only  in  law  but  in  rhetoric  and  philosophy.     Cicerol 

27  Brut,  92-94. 


culture. 


THE  ROMAN  BAR  IN  CICERO'S  TIME  83 

was  perfectly  conscious  of  the  fact  that  much  of  the 
great  success  that  came  to  him,  after  his  return  from   Cicero's 
Greece   was   due   to   his   training   in   philosophy,   which  puJJjJJj^ 
he  describes  as  "the  fountain  head  of  all  perfect  elo- 
quence, the  mother  of  all  good  work." 28 

Trained  from  his  boyhood  under  the  best  of  masters, 
the  plans  of  the  young  aspirant,  who  hoped  "far  to  excel, 
and  tower  above  the  crowd,"  advanced  prosperously  until 
suddenly  blighted  by  the  frost  of  the  terrible  Italian 
war  which  completely  disorganized  the  political  and  judi- 
cial machinery  of  the  state.  Just  as  Cicero,  now  in  his 
eighteenth  year,  was  beginning  his  law  studies  under  the 
venerable  Scaevola,  the  augur,  the  war  deepened  in  in- 
tensity, the  consuls  for  the  year  89  B.C.  being  Cn.  Pom- 
peius  Strabo  and  L.  Porcius  Cato.  It  is  in  the  spring 
of  that  year  that  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  him  as  a  young  A  soldier 
recruit  going  to  the  battlefield,  attached  in  some  capacity  itaiiao  war. 
to  the  praetorium  and  the  person  of  the  consul  Pompeius 
Strabo  himself.  In  reference  to  this  connection  with 
the  northern  army  under  Strabo,  he  says: 

Cnaeus  Pompeius,  the  son  of  Sextus,  being  consul,  in  my  pres- 
ence, when  I  was  serving  my  first  campaign  in  his  army,  had  a 
conference  with  Publius  Vettius  Scato,  the  general  of  the  Mar- 
sians,  between  the  camps.  And  I  recollect  that  Sextus  Pompeius, 
the  brother  of  the  consul,  a  very  learned  and  wise  man,  came 
thither  from  Rome  to  the  conference.  And  when  Scato  had 
saluted  him,  "What,"  said  he,  "am  I  to  call  you?"  "Call  me," 
said  he,  "one  who  is  by  inclination  a  friend,  by  necessity  an  enemy." 
That  conference  was  conducted  with  fairness:  there  was  no  fear, 
no  suspicion;  even  their  mutual  hatred  was  not  great;  for  the 
allies  were  not  seeking  to  take  our  city  from  us,  but  to  be  them- 
selves admitted  to  share  the  privileges  of  it.29 

It  was  during  that  campaign  that  the  young  Marcus 

28  Brut.,  93.  29  Cicero,  12  Philippicae,  xi. 


84 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


First  contact 
with  Pompey 
the  Great. 


All  courts 
closed  except 
Commission 
for  High 
Treason. 


Great  advo- 
cates away 
with  the 
army. 


came  for  the  time  into  contact  with  the  consul's  son,  very 
near  his  own  age,  known  in  after  years  as  Pompey  the 
Great,  a  friend  destined  to  exercise  such  a  marked 
influence  on  his  after  life. 

All  hope  of  a  forensic  career  was  suspended  of  course, 
for  the  moment,  by  the  war,  which  swept  the  more  im- 
portant advocates  into  the  army,  and  closed  all  the  courts 
except  the  Commission  for  High  Treason,  before  which 
were  brought  the  noblest  men  in  Rome  upon  the  charge 
of  having  "incited  the  allies  to  revolt."  Among  the  vic- 
tims was  the  great  advocate  Caius  Cotta  of  whom  Cicero 
writes:  "His  exile  just  at  the  time  when  I  was  most 
anxious  to  hear  him  was  the  first  untoward  incident  in. 
my  career." 30  As  Crassus  had  died  the  year  before, 
and  as  his  great  rival  Antonius,  the  famous  orator  of 
the  seniors,  Sulpicius  Rufus,  the  most  distinguished 
among  the  advocates  in  middle  life,  and  Hortensius,  the 
rising  light  of  the  younger  bar,  were  away  with  the  army, 
Cicero  who,  in  the  fall  of  89  B.c.;  had  returned  to  his 
father's  house  in  the  Carinae,  was  compelled  to  content 
himself  with  listening  to  the  magistrates.     He  says: 

The  only  trial  we  had,  was  that  upon  the  Varian  law ;  the  rest, ' 
as  I  have  just  observed,  having  been  intermitted  by  the  war.  We< 
had  scarcely  anybody  left  at  the  bar  but  Lucius  Memmius  and] 

Quintus  Pompeius,  who  spoke  mostly  on  their  own  affairs I 

The  rest,  who  were  esteemed  our  principal  speakers,  were  then 
in  the  magistracy  and  I  had  the  benefit  of  hearing  their  harangues, 
almost  every  day.  Caius  Curio  was  chosen  a  tribune  of  the  people, 
though  he  left  off  speaking  after  being  once  deserted  by  his  entire 
audience.  To  him  I  may  add  Quintus  Metellus  Celer,  who,.; 
though  certainly  no  orator,  was  far  from  being  destitute  of  utter- 
ance; but  Quintus  Varius,  Caius  Carbo,  and  Cnaeus  Pomponiu* 
were  men  of  real  eloquence,  and  might  almost  be  said  to  have 
lived  upon  the  rostra.31 

30  Brut.,  89.  31  Ibid.,  89. 


THE  ROMAN  BAR  IN  CICERO'S  TIME  85 

During  the  next  year  it  was,  the  year  of  Sulla's  first 
consulship  (88  B.C.),  that  the  Social  War  was  trans-  Social,  trans- 
formed into  a  Civil  War  in  which  for  the  first  time  a  civi|  war 
Roman  armies  were  opposed  to  each  other  on  the  battle- 
field, the  leaders  of  the  vanquished  party  being  executed 
and  their  heads  exposed  on  the  rostra  as  those  of  enemies 
of  the  state.  In  the  midst  of  such  scenes  such  orators 
as  Antonius,  Sulpicius  Rufus,  Catulus,  and  Caius  Julius32 
all  perished  before  quiet  was  restored  for  a  time  in  86  B.C. 
-  It  was  during  the  dreadful  year  88  B.C.  that  Marius 
with  many  other  leaders  of  the  popular  party  were  de- 
clared public  enemies  immediately  after  Sulla  had  seized 
the  city.  Then  it  was  that  the  new  dynast  was  defied  to 
his  face  by  the  frail  and  aged  jurist  Scaevola,  the  augur, 
who  died  shortly  afterward,  thus  opening  the  way  for 
Cicero  to  continue  his  studies  in  the  civil  law  under  his 
kinsman  Mucius  Scaevola,  the  pontifex  maximus,  of 
whom  mention  has  been  made  already.  The  midnight 
■did  not  begin  to  break  however  until  the  return  from  the 

Past  in  83  B.C.  of  Sulla,  who,  after  a  winter  passed  in  Sulla's  re- 
ampania,  pressed  forward  to  Rome,  overthrowing  the  Battings  bx! 
younger  Marius  in  82  B.C.,  and  entering  the  city  without 
further  opposition.  Soon  a  last  stand  was  made  by  the 
Combined  remnants  of  the  Marians  and  Italians  who 
were  completely  defeated  in  a  battle  fought  under  the 
svalls  of  the  capital. 

In  the  midst  of  the  bloody  drama  enacted  in  that  clos- 
ing year  of  the  Civil  War,  when  each  party  seemed  to 
>e  intent  upon  the  annihilation  of  the  other,   perished 
Scaevola,  the  pontifex  maximus,  who  seems  to  have  been  Death 
cut  down  while  fleeing  from  the  Regia,  his  official  resi-  °,    cac™  a» 


32  These,  along  with  Crassus  and  his  father-in-law,  Mucius  Scaevola, 
ippear  in  the  De  Oratore. 


the  pontifex. 


86 


Sulla's 
dictatorship, 
82  B.C. 


Cicero  began 
his  forensic 
career  in  his 
twenty-fifth 
year. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

dence,  to  the  sanctuary  of  Vesta,  not  far  away,  before 
the  very  image  of  the  goddess.  In  referring  to  the  inci- 
dent Cicero  cries  out:  "Why  was  Scaevola,  the  pontifex 
maximus,  that  pattern  of  moderation  and  prudence,  mas- 
sacred before  the  statue  of  Vesta?"33 

Not  until  after  the  Republic  had  been  distracted 
for  nearly  ten  years  by  a  civil  war  which  suspended  all 
forms  of  constitutional  government,  whether  by  Senate 
or  Assembly,  the  disorganization  extending  from  Rome 
to  Italy  and  from  Italy  to  the  provinces,  was  there  a 
restoration  of  law  and  order  under  the  dictatorship  of 
Sulla,  who  in  the  year  82  B.C.,  demanded  from  the  Senate 
the  office  of  dictator  for  an  indefinite  period,  with  the 
power  of  life  and  death  over  every  citizen,  and  with  ple- 
nary powers  for  the  reform  of  the  constitution.  When 
under  the  Sullan  regime  the  courts  were  reopened  with 
certain  serious  changes  of  organization  as  to  criminal 
judicature  to  be  noted  hereafter,  Cicero,  then  in  his  twen- 
ty-fifth year,  began  his  forensic  career.     He  says: 

This  time  was  distinguished  by  a  violent  struggle  to  restore 
the  liberty  of  the  Republic;  the  barbarous  slaughter  of  the  three 
orators,  Scaevola,  Carbo,  and  Antistius;  the  return  of  Cotta, 
Curio,  Crassus,  Pompey,  and  the  Lentuli;  the  re-establishment 
of  the  laws  and  courts  of  judicature,  and  the  entire  restoration 
of  the  commonwealth;  but  we  lost  Pomponius,  Censorinus,  and 
Murena,  from  the  roll  of  orators.  I  now  began,  for  the  first 
time,  to  undertake  the  management  of  causes,  both  private  and 
public;  not  with  the  view  of  learning  on  the  Forum,  as  most  did, 
but  as  far  as  had  been  in  my  power  to  accomplish,  I  came  into 
the  Forum  fully  trained.84 


83  Cicero,  De  Natura  Deorum,  Hi,  32. 


84  Brut.,  90. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE   ROMAN  CONSTITUTION 


Having  outlined  the  career  of  Cicero  down  to  the 
dictatorship  of  Sulla  when,  on  the  completion  of  his 
twenty-fifth  year,  his  public  life  really  began,  an  attempt 
must  next  be  made  to  outline,  down  to  the  same  point  of 
time,  the  growth  of  the  Roman  constitution,1  because  it 
is  impossible  to  understand  his  career,  either  as  an  advo- 
cate or  as  a  statesman,  without  a  definite  comprehension 
of  the  system  of  government,  constitutional  and  legal, 
with  which  he  had  to  deal. 

The  beginnings  of  the  Roman  constitution  are  em- 
bedded in  the  traditional  history  of  the  great  city-state 
that  arose  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  out  of  the  union 
of  a  group  or  groups  of  village  communities,  which  cer- 
tainly coalesced  upon  the  general  plan  dominant  in  the 
Greek  and  Italian  peninsulas.  In  Italy  the  village  com- 
munity appears  as  the  gens;  out  of  a  union  of  gentes 
arose  the  tribe;  out  of  a  union  of  tribes  arose  the  city- 
state.  It  seems  to  be  clear  that  the  Italian  city  was 
rather  the  fortress,  the  place  of  meeting,  the  place  of 
shelter,  of  the  tribe,  or  collection  of  tribes,  than  the 
actual  home  and  dwelling  place  which  it  was  according 
j  to  Greek  ideas.  A  group  of  Latin  villages  grew  together 
I  to  form  a  border  fortress  of  Latium  on  the  Etruscan 
march.2 

1  "Constitutions  are  not  made,  they  grow."  —  Sir  James  Macintosh. 
"Turn  Laelius,  nunc  fit  illud  Catonis  certius,  nee  temporis  unius,  nee 
hominis  esse  constitutionem  Republicae."  —  De  Repub.,  ii,  21. 

2  The  Latins  began  with  a  Markgenossenschaft,  and  the  town,  like  the 
[British  oppidum,  was  at  first  a  mere  place  of  defense  in  case  of  the  attacks 
(of  enemies.  —  E.  A.  Freeman,  Comparative  Politics,  p.  257. 

87 


System  of 
government 
with  which 
Cicero 
had  to  deal. 


Roman  con- 
stitution in 
the  regal 
period. 


88 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Rome  as  a 
city-state. 


Product  of 

a  process 

of  federation. 


Curia 

the  keystone. 


Members  of 
the  curiae 
constituted 
the  populus 
Romanus. 


In  the  Latin  city  of  Rome,3  which  gathered  around  it 
the  various  classes  of  citizens,  half-citizens,  allies,  and 
subjects,  all  looking  to  the  local  city  as  the  common 
center,  the  idea  of  the  single  independent  city  —  the  ruling 
city — reached  its  highest  development.  In  the  structure 
of  the  early  Roman  city-state,  which  arose  out  of  the 
aggregation  of  a  group  of  village  communities,  the  marks 
of  fusion  are  more  distinct  than  the  traces  of  the  admix- 
ture of  races.  No  one  can  tell  how  long  the  process  of 
federation  was  in  progress,  while  of  the  constitution  and 
history  of  the  united  city-state  in  the  early  days  of  its 
existence  it  is  impossible  to  give  more  than  a  meagre 
outline. 

According  to  tradition,  the  populus  Romanus  was 
divided  into  three  tribes,  Ramnes,  Titienses,  and  Luce- 
res,4  and  into  thirty  curiae,  each  curia  representing  a 
group  of  gentes,  and  each  gens  a  group  of  families.  The 
curia,  whose  members  were  probably  neighbors  and  kins- 
men, is  generally  regarded  as  the  keystone  of  the  primi- 
tive political  system,  and  it  doubtless  represents  a  stage 
in  political  development  midway  between  that  in  which 
clanship  is  the  sole  bond  of  union  and  that  in  which  such 
claims  as  those  of  territorial  contiguity  and  ownership  of 
land  have  obtained  recognition.  Even  in  Cicero's  time 
there  were  still  curies,  curial  festivals,  and  curiate  assem- 
blies.   The  members  of  the  thirty  curiae  5  constituted  the 

8  As  to  the  admixture  of  non-Latin  elements,  Sabine  and  Etruscan,  see 
Mommsen,  Rbmische  Geschichte,  vol.  i,  p.  43.  Jeffrey  Gilbert,  Forum 
Romanum  (Topographie,  i,  c.  5),  accepting  the  Sabine  settlement,  holds 
that  in  the  union  the  Latin  element  decisively  predominated. 

4  The  original  legend,  the  topography  of  which  there  seems  to  be  no 
good  reason  to  doubt,  comes  out  in  Dionysius,  ii,  50.  For  Mommsen's  treat- 
ment of  it,  see  Rom.  Gesch.,  vol.  i,  p.  33. 

B  But,  although  the  curiae  had  local  centers,  membership  of  these  bodies 
did  not  depend  on  residence  in  a  given  locality.  It  was  hereditary,  and  if 
the  members  of  a  gens  migrated  from  its  curia,  the  gentiles  were  still 
members  of  that  state  division.  —  Greenidge,  p.  41. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  89 

populus  Romanus,  and  the  earliest  known  condition  of 
Roman  citizenship  is  the  communio  sacrorum,  partnership 
in  the  curial  sacra.  The  soundest  view  is  that  the 
primitive  Roman  people  of  the  thirty  curiae  included 
all  the  freemen  of  the  community,  simple  as  well  as 
gentle.6 

The  common  chieftain,  whose  appointment  federation 
made  necessary,  was  the  rex,  the  ruler  of  the  united  Rex  as  ruler 
people.7  The  terms  interrex  and  interregnum  go  far  to  peopie. 
prove  not  only  that  Rome  once  had  kings,  but  that  those 
kings  were  elective  and  not  hereditary.  There  must 
have  been  a  time  when  the  interrex  really  was,  as  his 
name  implies,  the  magistrate  who  was  to  preside  at 
the  election,  not  of  consuls,  but  of  a  king.  When,  in 
later  times,  there  were  no  "patrician  magistrates" 
to  hold  elections  for  their  successors,  a  procedure 
was  adopted  which  we  have  every  reason  to  believe 
represented  the  manner  in  which  the  early  kings  were 
chosen.8 

In  the  discharge  of  the  manifold  duties,  secular  and 
[religious,  that  clustered  around  the  royal  office,  the  king 
was  assisted  by  a  body  of  elders,  a  representative  body 
of  chiefs,  who,  as  a  permanent  advising  body,  stood  to 
the  king  as  the  family  council  to  the  house-father  in  the 
;earliest  times.  The  Roman  Senate  was,  no  doubt,  an  Origin 
loutgrowth  and  expansion  of  that  idea.  The  senators,  Senate13" 
the  patres,  taken  from  the  leading  gentes,  held  office  for 
life,  and,  as  the  ultimate  depository  of  the  supreme  power 

8  Cf.  Moramsen  (Rbmische  Forschungen,  vol.  i)  as  to  the  vexed  question 
Df  the  purely  patrician  character  of  the  curiae. 

7  That  he  was  once  the  priestly  head  of  a  community  bound  together  by 
:ommon  sacra  is  manifest  from  the  survival  of  the  rex  sacrificulus,  as  he 
appears  in  Livy,  vi,  41.    But  that  his  real  title  was  rex  sacrorum  appears 
rom  Livy  himself  (xxvii,  6). 
j    8  Cf.  De  Leg.,  iii,  3  ;  Liv.,  iv,  7. 


90 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Appoint- 
ment of  an 
interrex. 


The  popular 
assembly  co- 
mitia  curiata. 


Voting 
curiatim. 


Struggle 
of  plebeians 
for  political 
and  legal 
equality. 


and  of  the  sacra  connected  with  it,  they  claimed  the  right 
to  appoint  the  interrex  from  their  own  body,9  to  be  con- 
sulted in  the  choice  of  the  new  king,  and  also  the  right 
to  ratify  the  vote  of  the  assembled  freemen.  Vacancies 
in  their  ranks  were  filled  by  the  king,  to  whom  they  could 
give  advice  and  counsel  only  when  he  saw  fit  to  convene 
them.  Before  the  close  of  the  monarchy  the  number 
of  senators,  originally  ioo,  was  gradually  increased  to 
300.10 

Neither  the  Senate  nor  the  popular  assembly  of  united 
Rome  could  meet  except  when  the  king  saw  fit  to  con- 
vene them.  In  the  earliest  days  that  assembly  (comitia 
curiata),  in  which  the  freemen  voted  by  the  curia,  just  as 
in  an  American  convention  the  vote  of  the  entire  body 
may  be  taken  by  delegations,11  met  in  the  comitium 12 
at  the  northeast  end  of  the  Forum,  under  the  presidency 
of  the  king,  or,  in  his  absence,  of  the  interrex.  When 
the  vote  was  put,  the  curiae  were  called  in  turn,  and  so 
voting  took  place  curiatim.  A  majority  of  the  votes  of 
the  curiae  determined  the  final  result,  after  the  will  of 
each  curia  had  been  declared  by  a  majority  of  its  qualified 
members. 

An  attempt  must  next  be  made  to  indicate  the  process 
through  which  the  clanless  classes,  known  as  plebeians, 
fought  their  way  from  a  depressed  condition  to  one  of 
political  and  legal  equality  with  the  patrician  body,  whose 
members   dominated  and   controlled   the   early   Roman 

9  Tradition  dates  the  interregnum  from  the  first  vacancy  in  the  royal 
office,  after  the  death  of  Romulus.  —  De  Repub.,  ii,  12,  23  ;  Liv.,  i,  17 ;  Dion., 
ii,  57.  When  such  a  vacancy  occurred  the  auspices  under  which  the  state 
had  been  founded  "returned  to  the  patres"  (Cicero,  Ad.  Brutum  Orator, 
i,  5,  4)  and  not  to  the  comitia  curiata. 

10  Liv.,  i,  8,  17,  and  35;  ii,  1;  Greenidge,  p.  59. 

11  See  Bryce,  Studies  in  Hist,  and  Jur.,  p.  711. 

12  Varro,  L.L.,  v.  155.  For  the  position  of  the  comitium,  see  Smith, 
Dictionary  of  Geography,  s.  v.  "Roma,"  and  Jordan,  Topog.  d.  Stadt  Rom. 


i 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  91 

state.  Putting  aside  the  guesses  of  the  antiquarians  as 
to  the  original  sources  from  which  the  clanless  classes 
were  drawn,13  it  may  be  said  that  the  plebeians  (plebs, 
plebii)  represented  that  part  of  the  free  community  which 
stood  beyond  the  pale  of  the  patres,  as  the  complement 
of  that  order.  It  is  generally  assumed  that  at  a  very 
early  stage  in  the  history  of  the  city  all  plebeians  were 
t  in  a  half-servile  condition  of  clientship.  Even  if  it  be 
admitted  that  the  plebeians  had  the  right  to  hold  prop- 
erty, both  movable  and  immovable,  to  transfer  it  by 
quiritarian  modes  of  conveyance,  and  to  have  the  pro- 
tection for  it  of  the  tribunals,  the  fact  remains  that  they 
;had  no  share  in  the  government  of  the  city,  and  no  right 
to  participate  in  its  religion.  While,  even  before  the 
Servian  reforms,  the  plebeians  through  the  decay  of 
clientage  may  have  become  half-fledged  citizens,  their 
intermarriage  with  the  gentile  houses  was  out  of  the 
question.  During  the  first  few  centuries  gentes  they  had 
none;  a  fact  which  placed  them  at  a  disadvantage  in 
the  matter  of  inheritance  and  guardianship.14 

The  aim  of  the  military,  financial,  and  constitutional 
ireforms  of  Servius  Tullus  was  to  hasten  the  advance  Advance  to- 
'toward  equality  between  patricians  and  plebeians  by  rec-  ward  e(iual- 

....  r  \       r  •  •  lty  hastened 

ogmzing  the  latter  for  the  first  time  as,  in  a  sense,  mem-   by  Servian 
bers  of  the  state.     The  basis  of  the  primitive  military   reforras- 
system  had  been  the  three  tribes,  each  of  which  furnished 
one  thousand  men  to  the  legions  and  one  hundred  men 
to  the  cavalry.15     Servius  undertook  the  formation  of  a 

1  18  Freeman's  guess  is  "that  the  new  Roman  people,  the  plebs,  was  made 
jp  from  the  beginning  of  strictly  local  tribes ;  it  is  certain  that,  as  the  state 
?rew,  it  grew  by  the  addition  of  fresh  local  tribes." — Comp.  Pol.,  p.  70. 
14  On  these  obscure  subjects,  see  Mommsen,  Staatsrecht,  vol.  i,  pp.  66  sq., 
jp.  130  sq.;  Bloch,  Origines  du  senat  romain,  pp.  255  sq.;  Karlowa,  Rom. 
fRG.,  vol.  i,  p.  62 ;  Cuq.,  Inst.  Jurid.,  pp.  43  sq. 
I    "  Varro,  L.  L.,  v,  89. 


02 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


New  tribes 
invented 
for  benefit 
of  plebs. 


Wealth 
primary- 
basis  of 
classification. 


new  and  enlarged  army  on  a  new  footing,  disregarding 
both  the  old  clan  divisions  and  the  semi-religious,  semi- 
political  curiae.  The  new  system  rested  on  a  distribution 
of  all  freeholders  (assidui)  into  tribes,  classes,  and  cen- 
turies.16 As  the  new  arrangement  was  to  embrace  the 
whole  community,  and  as  the  plebeians,  many  of  whom 
had  no  clans,  could  not  be  made  members  of  the  three 
primitive  tribes,  it  was  necessary  to  invent  new  tribes  for 
their  benefit  which  could  include  the  whole  community.17 
As  a  recognition  of  the  rights  of  property  was  a  nec- 
essary preliminary  to  the  imposition  of  taxation  and  the 
full  quota  of  military  service,  the  tribes  marked  divisions 
of  the  land,  and  individuals  were  registered  in  that  tribe 
in  which  their  land  allotment  lay.18  It  is  probable,  how- 
ever, that  the  tribes  were  more  than  mere  divisions  of 
the  land;  they  appear  to  be  divisions  of  the  populus 
Romanus,  of  which  the  disinherited  or  ruined  patrician 
who  had  lost  his  land  was  still  a  member.19  The  central 
idea  of  the  Servian  reforms  was  essentially  military,  and 
its  methods  of  registration  recognized  only  those  per- 
sons who  were  qualified  for  service  by  wealth  —  wealth 
being  the  primary  basis  of  classification.  For  strategic 
purposes  the  new  array  was  divided  into  classes,20  ac- 

16  De  Repub.,  ii,  22;  Liv.  i,  4;  Dion.,  iv,  16. 

17  The  four  were  the  Palatina,  Suburana,  Exquilina,  Collina.  Cf.  Liv., 
i,  43.  Mommsen  holds  that  "the  four  tribes  are  probably  nothing  more  than 
the  three  Romulian  increased  through  the  territorium  of  the  town  on  the 
Quirinal."  —  Staatsrecht,  vol.  iii,  p.  125. 

18  For  that  reason  Servius  is  said  to  have  prohibited  transference  of 
domicile  or  allotment.  —  Dion.,  iv,  14. 

19  "The  tribe  to  which  a  landless  man  belonged  would  depend  upon  his 
domicile."  —  Greenidge,  p.  68. 

20  For  service  in  the  first  class  the  property  qualification  is  given  at 
100,000  asses  (Livy),  for  the  second  at  70,000,  third  50,000,  fourth  25,000, 
fifth  11,000.  A  certain  acreage  of  land,  as  an  original  qualification,  was 
probably  changed  afterward  into  a  given  sum  of  money.  Cf.  Mommsen, 
Romische  Tubus,  p.  115. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION 


93 


Registration 
a  religious 
function. 


cording  to  age,  the  unit  of  organization  being  the  cen- 
turia,  consisting  nominally  of  one  hundred  men.  The 
act  of  registration  (census)  was  a  solemn  religious  func- 
tion conducted  by  the  king,  who  numbered  his  fighting 
force,  saw  that  each  warrior  was  in  his  proper  rank,  ex- 
cluded from  the  ranks  men  who  were  stained  with  sin, 
and  then  concluded  the  examination  with  a  ceremony  of 
purification  (lustrum).  This  system,  at  first  exclusively 
military  in  its  nature  and  objects,  was  subsequently 
adopted  with  modifications  as  the  basis  of  the  political 
system. 

Despite  the  fact  that  the  primary  purpose  of  the  cen- 
turiate  organization  was  the  assembly  and  registration 
of  those  liable  for  military  service,  it  was  soon  employed 
as  a  scheme  for  the  collection  of  taxes  on  the  registered 
wealth  of  the  citizens  of  the  classes.  Thus  a  new  and 
mixed  assembly  sprang  into  existence,  the  comitia  cen-  The  comitia 
turiata,  a  citizen  army,  parliament  and  law  court  in  one,  centunata- 
i  to  which  a  preponderance  of  political  power  was  inevita- 
bly transferred. 

While  the  older  assembly  of  the  patrician  order,  comi- 
\tia  curiata,  was  not  suddenly  stripped  of  its  functions,    Growth  of  its 
i there  was  a  large  number  of  important  public  acts  which   Juns  lctlon- 
were  naturally  performed  from  the  first  by  the  assembly 
of  the  centuries  because  especially  within  its  jurisdiction. 
[To  this  assembly  an  announcement  of  a  purpose  to  de- 
clare war  could  most  appropriately  be  made;  by  the  tax- 
payers here  assembled  the  war  tax  (tributum)  could  be 
most  conveniently  assessed;  here  the  oath  of  allegiance, 
probably  renewed  at  every  taking  of  the  census,  was  ex- 
pressed in  a  lex  centuriata,21  and  not,  as  at  first,  in  a  lex 

21  "Majores  de  singulis  magistratibus  bis  vos  sententiam  ferre  volu- 
wrunt;  nam  cum  centuriata  lex  censoribus  ferebatur,  cum  curiata  ceteris 
patriciis  magistratibus,  turn  iterum  de  eisdem  judicabatur." —  Cicero,  De 
\Lege  Agraria,  ii,  n,  26.    Cf.  Greenidge,  pp.  72-77. 


94 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Supersedes 
the  comitia 
curiata. 


Merely  a 
survival  in 
Cicero's 
time. 


curiata;  and  here,  no  doubt,  was  exercised  the  appellate 
power,  when  the  king  allowed  an  appeal  in  a  criminal 
proceeding,  because  the  regal  jurisdiction  which  the 
people  challenged  by  the  provocatio  was  essentially  mili- 
tary jurisdiction. 

Thus  before  the  end  of  the  regal  period  a  silent  yet 
momentous  change  was  wrought  in  the  structure  of  the 
primitive  constitution  through  the  transference  of  the 
substance  of  sovereignty  from  the  comitia  curiata,  that 
assembly  of  a  single  order,  to  the  comitia  centuriata, 
representing  both  orders,  now  blended  in  the  populus 
Romanus  in  the  full  sense  of  that  term.  In  the  process 
of  time  the  oldest  sovereign  assembly  of  Rome,  comitia 
curiata,  became  a  mere  shadow  of  its  former  self.  Its 
chief  surviving  constitutional  functions  were  the  passing 
of  the  lex  curiata,  which  was  necessary  for  the  ratification 
originally  of  the  imperium,  the  creation  of  fresh  patri- 
cian magistracies,  and  of  the  potestas  which  these  in- 
volved.22 For  the  performance  of  such  acts  the  comitia 
curiata  was  in  Cicero's  day  often  represented  by  but 
thirty  lictors,23  and  the  same  scanty  attendance  may  have 
sufficed  for  the  other  formal  acts  retained  from  earlier 
times.24 

22  Messala  ap.  Getl.,  xiii,  15,  4:  "Minoribus  creatis  magistratibus  tributis 
comitiis  magistratus,  sed  Justus  curiata  datur  lege." 

23  De  Leg.  Agr.,  ii,  12,  31. 

24  These  are  the  acts  of  the  comitia  calata.  Upon  the  whole  subject, 
see  the  interesting  statements  of  Greenidge,  pp.  26-27,  250-51  and 
notes.  After  the  overthrow  of  the  Republic,  all  the  Roman  popular 
assemblies  died  out  and  became  obsolete  without  being  formally  abolished. 
The  power  of  direct  legislation  then  passed  to  the  Senate.  The 
comitia  gradually  became  a  mere  name  under  Augustus  and  Tiberius. 
Caius,  after  professing  to  restore  the  assembly  to  its  old  powers,  with- 
drew his  own  gift.  For  a  notable  description  of  the  change,  see  Dion 
Cassius,  lix,  20,  who  says:  airidwKe  (lev  yap  ras  apxa-ipecrlas  avrois-  ire  Si 
iicetvwv  re  dpyoripcav  virb  to£S  ttoWw  XP°VV  P-ySev  ekevOepws  KexpVflaTlK^'"11 
is  rb  Spdv  ri  twv  irpocnjKOVToiv  otyioiv  'dvruv,  Kal  rwv  ffwovSapx^vTiav  /udXwrtt 
(iiv  fij}   irXelovwv  7)  ocovs  alpeiaOai  e§et  etrayyeWbvTwv,   el  de  wore  Kal  iiwip 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION 


95 


Such  criminal  jurisdiction  as  the  state  did  exercise  in    Criminal 
the  early  days  was  vested  in  the  king,  who,  as  judge —  J0";ginaiiyn 


.  .  .  .  sometimes  availed  himself  of  a  "council";  sometimes,  per- 
haps in  cases  of  minor  importance,  delegating  his  judicial  powers 
to  individual  "judges";  aided,  in  his  quest  of  capital  crimes,  by 
the  questores  parricidii;  appointed  at  his  pleasure,  in  cases  of 
treason,  the  extraordinary  duumviri;  allowing,  though  perhaps 
not  bound  to  do  so,  an  appeal  from  the  latter  to  the  assembled 
burgesses, —  this  is  all  we  can  recognize  with  any  degree  of 
confidence.25 

The  king — 

....  specified  the  crime  under  which  the  accused  was  to  be  tried, 
and  the  penalty  to  be  inflicted,  but  left  the  finding  on  the  facts  to 
his  delegates  (Liv.,  i,  26).  Two  such  classes  of  delegates  are  at- 
tributed to  the  regal  period,  the  duumviri  perduellionis  and  the 
quaestores  parricidii.29 


vested  in 
king. 


If  the  boundary  between  civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction   Boundary 


existed  at  Rome  at  all,  it  was  very  faintly  defined. 
Roman  law  continued  to  treat  to  the  last  as  civil  delicts 
acts  now  regarded  exclusively  as  crimes.  If  a  conclu- 
sion may  be  drawn  from  the  position  they  held  in  the 
later  jurisprudence,  theft  and  robbery  were  regarded  not 
as  public  but  as  private  wrongs.27  The  power  of  punish- 
ment exercised  in  early  times  by  the  king  and  the  comitia 
\centuriata  was  shared  in  later  times  by  the  Senate.  While 
fin  cases  of  special  importance  the  comitia  and  the  Senate 

rbv  apiOfibv  yivotvro,  SiouoXoyovnivwv  irpbs  dXX^Xovs,  rb  fitv  irxwa  TV* 
•drjuoKparlas  effwfero,  ipyov  8'  ovdev  avTijs  eylyvero,  /cat  5ia  tovto  in'  avrov 
'aidis  tov  Talov  KareXvOTjaay  •  kolk  tovtov  ra  fiev  &\\a  Kadairep  Kal  inl  rov 
iTi/Sep/ou  Ka.0lffTa.TO.  Finally  senatorial  legislation  was  superseded  by 
imperial  legislation.    See  the  author's  Science  of  Jurisprudence,  p.  118. 

25  Clark,  Early  Roman  Law,  p.  87,  citing  Heineccius,  Elementa  Juris 
\C 'wilis,  §136. 

26  Greenidge,  p.  63. 

27  Muirhead,  Roman  Laiv,  p.  69. 


between 
criminal  and 
civil  jurisdic- 
tion faintly 
defined. 


96 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Questiones 
perpetuae. 


Each  stand- 
ing commis- 
sion estab- 
lished by  a 
special  law. 


Procedure  in 
civil  cases. 


Trial 
by  battle. 

College  of 
pontiffs. 


exercised  their  power  directly,  it  was  usually  delegated 
in  each  case  to  a  magistrate  or  a  body  of  commissioners. 
Such  commissioners  (quaestors)  were  appointed  at  first 
for  particular  cases,  and  afterward  for  particular  classes 
of  cases.28  The  series  of  statutes  by  which  questiones 
perpetuae  were  instituted  for  the  trial  of  particular 
classes  of  crimes  wherever  committed,  beginning  with 
the  lex  Calpurnia,  149  B.C.,  continued  until  a  number  of 
courses  of  conduct  had  been  from  time  to  time  branded 
as  criminal.  Each  standing  commission  was  established 
by  a  special  law,  and  consisted  of  a  praetor  chosen  annu- 
ally, assisted  by  a  small  popular  assembly  consisting 
sometimes  of  as  many  as  100  judices,  who  were  sum- 
moned for  each  particular  case.  It  was  before  popular 
courts  of  that  character,  presided  over  by  a  praetor,  that 
Cicero  delivered  his  famous  orations  in  criminal  cases. 
By  the  constitutional  legislation  of  Sulla,  as  we  shall  see 
hereafter,  the  control  of  such  courts  (questiones  per- 
petuae) was  taken  away  from  the  equestrian  order  and 
restored  to  the  Senate. 

Turning  from  criminal  to  civil  procedure,  it  appears 
that  there  was  a  time  when  all  questions  of  quiritarian 
right,  such  as  disputes  concerning  property  and  inher- 
itances, were  settled  between  the  contending  parties,  sup- 
ported by  their  clansmen  and  friends,  with  the  spear  as 
the  arbiter.29  After  the  firm  establishment  of  the  author- 
ity of  the  state,  it  appears  that  this  procedure  by  battle 
was  at  a  very  early  day  superseded  by  a  submission  of 
such  questions  of  right  to  the  college  of  pontiffs,  of  whom  1 

28  There  are  traces  in  very  early  times  of  standing  quaestores  parr't- 
cidii.  —  Ortolan,  Explication  historique  des  Instituts,  vol.  i,  pp.  182-83. 

29  The  praetor  commanded  the  parties  to  go  to  the  ground  suis  utrisque 
super  stitibus  praesentibus.  Cf.  Cicero,  Pro  L.  Murena,  xii,  26.  "Sicut* 
dixi,  ecce  tibi,  vindictam  imposui."  —  Gaius,  iv,  16. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  97 

the  king  was  the  official  head.30  As  their  functions  were 
sacred,  the  pontiffs  could  only  acquire  jurisdiction  over  A  sacred 
a  purely  civil  controversy  through  the  engrafting  of  a  necTssary 
sacred  element  which  was  added  by  requiring  each  of 
the  parties  to  verify  his  contention  by  an  oath,  whose 
truth  or  falsity  constituted  the  ostensible  issue.  Under 
that  form  a  finding  was  made  on  the  real  issue,  and  the 
party  in  whose  favor  it  was  pronounced  was  free  to  make 
I  it  effectual  by  self-help,  if  necessary.31 

Did  Servius  Tullius  substitute  for  king  and  pontiffs  a    Servian 

c     •  '  •  f        .    .        .  reforms. 

numerous  court  or  citizens  to  try  questions  or  quintanan 
\  right  upon  his  submission?  If  he  did,  was  it  his  inten- 
;  tion  that  the  judges  should  be  selected  from  among  the 
.  patrician  citizens  for  each  case  as  it  arose,  or  was  it  a 
I  collegiate  court  or  courts  that  he  established,  in  which 
,  the  judges  had  an  official  character?  Dionysius  says  that 
1  Servius  drew  a  line  of  separation  between  public  and  pri- 
vate judicial  processes,  and  that,  while  he  retained  the 
j  former  in  his  own  hands,  he  referred  the  latter  to  private 
I  judges,  and  regulated  the  procedure  in  cases  brought  be- 
ifore  them.32  Such  a  substitution  for  king  and  pontiffs  of  a    Popular 

numerous  court  of  citizens  to  try  questions  of  quiritarian    courtssubsti- 

*m  *  ^  m    tuted  for  king 

i  right  seems  quite  in  harmony  with  the  general  spirit  of  and  pontiffs. 

|the  reforms  of  Servius,  who,  by  enormously  increasing 
the  number  of  citizens  entitled  to  that  right,  multiplied 
the  sources  of  such  future  disputes  as  would  have  to  be 

)  determined  by  such  a  tribunal  or  tribunals.33     By  their 

30  On  early  Roman  law,  see  the  work  of  P.  Jors,  Rbmische  Rechtsnvissen- 
.schaft  zur  Zeit  der  Republik  (1888). 

31  As  to  the  nature  of  the  legis  actio  sacramento,  see  Asverus,  Die  Legis 
.actio  sacramenti,  Leipzig,  1837;  Fioretti,  Legis  actio  sacramenti,  Naples, 
1883;  Sohm,  p.  153;  Maine,  p.  46. 

\     32  Dion.  Hal.,  iv,  25. 

33  "Thus  we  should  a  priori  arrive  at  the  institution  of  some  other  court 
besides  the  king's,  without  the  testimony  of  Dionysius,  as  a  simple  matter 


98 


Habit  of  in- 
trusting ju- 
dicial office 
to  private 
citizen. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

judgment  not  mere  matters  of  personal  dispute  had  to  be 
determined,  but  a  law  had  to  be  built  up  which  could  be 
of  general  and  permanent  application.  There  were, 
however,  many  cases  requiring  judicial  assistance  involv- 
ing no  question  of  quiritarian  right,  no  general  principle 
of  law,  simply  personal  claims,  mere  disputes  or  differ- 
ences as  to  facts,  which  could  well  be  decided  by  a  single 
judge. 

The  trial  of  civil  cases,  originally  vested  in  the  college 
of  pontiffs,  of  which  the  king  was  the  official  head,  was 
thus  finally  transferred  by  him  to  a  single  judge  (unus 
judex),  who  acted  as  a  royal  commissioner  in  each  case 
as  it  arose.34 

From  that  habit  of  intrusting  the  judicial  office 
to  a  private  citizen,  chosen  for  each  individual  case,  and 
acting  on  a  commission  from  the  praetor,  instead  of 
to  officials  trained  for  the  purpose,  flowed  results  which 
contributed  more  perhaps  than  any  other  one  cause  to 
make  Roman  law  what  it  is  and  has  been.  Such  was 
the  beginning  of  a  system  that  bore  such  wonderful  fruit, 
and  finally  displaced  altogether  the  more  imposing  cen- 
tumviral  and  decemviral  courts. 

Beneath  the  fabulous  story  of  the  flight  of  the  kings, 

of  necessity The  best  modern  authorities  admit  the  existence  of  the 

judices  under  the  kings,  whether  their  institution  is  to  be  attributed  to 
Servius  or  not."  —  Clark,  p.  ioo,  citing  Walter  (trad,  par  Laboulaye), 
Procedure  civile  chez  les  Romains,  ch.  i;  Ortolan,  Histoire  de  la  Legisla- 
tion romaine,  §§117,  162;  Zumpt,  Criminalrecht,  Absch.  i,  4. 

34  Wlassak  contends  that  originally  in  let/is  actiones  the  trial  commonly 
took  place  before  a  unus  judex,  and  that  the  centumviral  and  decemviral 
courts  did  not  come  into  existence  until  much  later  than  the  Twelve  Tables, 
in  accordance  with  the  statement  of  Pomponius. — Rom.  Processgesetze, 
vol.  i,  pp.  131  sq.  It  seems  to  be  clear  that  in  the  later  Republic  the  decem- 
viri stlitibus  judicandis  were  chiefly  engaged  in  trying  actions  affecting 
personal  liberty.  —  Sohm,  p.  150,  n.  2.  All  sworn  judges,  including  the 
decemviri,  stood  to  the  parties  solely  in  the  position  of  private  individuals 
(judex  privatus),  and  not  in  the  position  of  magistrates  equipped  with 
compulsory  powers.  —  Pernice,  A.,  ZS.  der  Sav.  St.,  vol.  v,  p.  48. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION 

as  told  by  the  chroniclers  whom  Livy35  followed,  it  is 
not  hard  to  perceive  the  marks  at  Rome  of  the  wide- 
spread wave  of  change  similar  to  that  which  in  Greece 
swept  away  the  old  heroic  monarchies.  At  Rome,  how- 
ever, the  transition  was,  externally,  more  sudden  and 
decided. 

Rome  had  nothing  answering  to  the  archonship  for 
life  or  ten  years;  into  the  place  of  the  kings,  chosen  for 
life,  there  at  once  stepped  the  two  consuls,  or  rather, 
praetors,  chosen  for  a  single  year. 

After  personal  kingship  was  abolished,  the  new  magis- 
trates simply  took  the  place  of  the  king  and  kept  it; 
:he  kingly  office  was  simply  put  into  commission  with 
[lothing  taken  away  from  its  power  and  not  much  from 
its  dignity.     Even  the  title  of  king  lived  on  at  Rome  as 
[•he  style  of  one  of  the  priests  of  the  national  religion 
Yrex  sacrificus,  rex  sacrificulus,  rex  sacrorum).3*     In  the 
conservative  commonwealth  of  Rome,  which  never  wholly 
tbolished  any  of  its  ancient  institutions,  we  see  how  both 
he  kingly  and  aristocratic  elements  of  the  state,  in  the 
ommon  acceptation  of  those  terms,  might  be  swept  away 
vithout  at  all  sweeping  away  the  substance  of  either  the 
;ingly  or  the  aristocratic  power.     To  the  consuls  were 
jiven    two    general    assistants,    the    annually    appointed 
[uaestors,  whose  most  distinctive  duties  as  representa- 
tives of  the  supreme  magistracy  were  those  concerning 
riminal  jurisdiction  and  finance,  probably  occupying  with 
espect  to  criminal  procedure  much  the  same  place  as 

85  Liv.,  Ii,  9-14.  Consult  also  Pliny,  N.  H.,  34,  14,  and  Tac,  Ann.,  Hi,  72. 
or  criticism  of  the  whole  story,  see  Schwegler,  vol.  ii,  pp.  60-202,  and 
teller,  Latium  u.  Rom,  p.  180. 

38  Liv.,  vi,  41 ;  xl,  42.  That  his  real  title  was  rex  sacrorum  appears  from 
ivy  himself  (xxvii,  6),  from  Gellius  (xv,  27),  and  Cicero  {Pro  Domo 
ua,  14).  Rex  sacrificulus  must  have  been  a  survival  of  a  real  rex.  Cf. 
reeman,  Comparative  Politics,  p.  32. 


99 


Transition 
from  kings 
to  consuls. 


Annually 
appointed 
quaestors. 


IOO 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Senate  a 
stronghold 
of  patrician 
influence. 


Consuls  as 
guardians 
of  criminal 
code. 


Patrician 
power  lim- 
ited by 
tribunes. 


the  duoviri  in  the  trial  of  Horatius.37  While  in  the 
choice  of  the  members  of  their  council  of  state,  the  Senate, 
the  consuls  were  legally  as  unfettered  as  the  king  had 
been,  they  were  so  restrained  by  custom  that  the  senators 
were  no  doubt  protected  against  either  capricious  removal 
or  selection. 

The  patrician  clans  had  a  close  hereditary  connection 
with  the  Senate,  and  the  history  of  the  next  century  and 
a  half  represents  it  as  the  stronghold  of  patrician 
prejudice  and  influence.  In  great  emergencies  it  could 
recreate  the  single  kingship  by  the  appointment  of  a 
dictator.38  Under  normal  conditions  the  criminal  law, 
which  was  becoming  more  and  more  secularized  and  re- 
moved from  the  direct  control  of  religion,  was  monopo- 
lized by  the  official  class,  as  a  criminal  inquiry  could 
be  undertaken  solely  on  the  initiative  of  the  consuls 
who  were  ostensibly  the  only  guardians  of  the  criminal 
code. 

Against  such  recognized  forms  of  patrician  power  the 
plebeians  renewed  their  struggle  for  legal  and  social 
equality  armed  with  little  more  than  the  restricted  voting 
power  they  had  won  in  the  comitia  centuriata.39  The 
primary  purpose  of  the  plebs  was  to  defend  themselves 
by  limiting  the  power  of  the  magistrates  in  the  earliest 

87  Liv.,  i,  26.  As  to  the  tradition  which  assigns  these  officials  to  the  regal 
period,  see  Mommsen,  Staatsrecht,  vol.  ii,  pp.  523  sq.  He  thinks  that  while 
the  financial  quaestors,  as  standing  officials,  originated  with  the  Republic, 
they  had  their  origin  in  the  criminal  quaestores  of  the  regal  period.  Cf. 
Greenidge,  pp.  63,  80. 

38  Mommsen's  theory  is  that  the  dictator  was  regarded  as  the  superior 
colleague  of  the  consuls.  His  earliest  official  title  was  magister  populi,  the 
technical  title  in  the  augural  books.  —  De  Leg.,  iii,  3,  9.  In  deference  to 
republican  sentiment  he  was  later  called  dictator.  —  Staatsrecht,  vol.  ii, 

PP-  145.  153- 

80  It  seems  to  be  beyond  doubt  that  at  some  time  during  the  first  three 
centuries  of  the  Republic  plebeians  were  included  in  the  comitia  curiata. — 
Mommsen,  vol.  iii,  p.  93. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  101 

I  social  struggles  which  centered  around  the  possession  of 
I  the  public  land40  and  the  law  of  debtor  and  creditor. 
J  When  the  consul  Appius  renewed  the  enforcement  of  the 
|  law  of  debt,  the  plebeian  military  contingent  suddenly 
I  gathered  in  battle  array  and  demanded  the  appointment 
l  of  two  magistrates,  known  as  tribunes,41  who  should  have 
the  power  of  suspending  the  decrees  of  the  consul  when 
'leveled  against  a  member  of  the  plebs.     These  magis- 
trates,  originally  two   in  number,   and  recognized  by  a 
\\lex    centuriata    passed    494    B.C.,    must    from    the    first 
1 'have  been  elected  by  an  assembly  of  the  plebs  known  as   Elected  by 
the  concilium  plebis  curiatim.42     In  dealing  with  these   an  assemb,y 

.  of  the  plebs. 

idirferent  assemblies  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that — 

....  practically  we  are  treating  the  Roman  community  engaged 
f  with  different  orders  of  the  day  under  different  formal  rules. 
I  The  people  require  to  be  organized  in  one  way  for  one  function 
rand  in  another  way  for  another,  but  under  the  changing  forms 
?  there  is  a  unity  of  personnel  which  forbids  us  regarding  the  differ- 
ent assemblies  as  different  sovereigns.     The  only  disturbance  to 

this  unity  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  patricians  were  always 

excluded  from  the  concilium  of  the  plebs.4S 

Not  until  287  B.C.  were  the  resolutions  of  the  plebs  Resolutions 
first  raised  to  the  level  of  laws.44     The  magistrates  of  oiPlebs 

0     t  made  laws 

the  plebs  were  given  two  assistants,  called  aediles,  who  in287B.c. 
bore  the  same  relation  to  them  as  the  two  quaestors  did 

40  As  to  the  early  distribution  of  land  among  plebeians,  see  Muirhead, 
pp.  39  sq. 

41  Varro.,  L.L.,  v,  81:  "tribuni  plebei,  quod  ex  tribunis  militum  primum 
ijtribuni  plebei  facti,  qui  plebem  defenderent,  in  secessione  Crustumerina." 

!Cf.  Greenidge,  p.  93. 

42  Cicero,  ap.  A  scon,  in  Cornel,  p.  76:  "Tanta  igitur  in  illis  virtus  fuit,  ut 
anno  xvi.  post  reges  exactos  propter  nimiam  dominationem  potentium 
secederent  ....  duos  tribunos  crearent." 

48  Greenidge,  p.  250. 

44  By  the  lex  Hortensia  the  concilium  plebis  was  made  one  of  the  legis- 
lative organs  of  the  community.  —  Gaius,  i,  3.  See  also  Pompon.,  Dig.,  i, 
a,  2,  8. 


102 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Aediles  as 
assistants 
of  tribunes. 


Making 
of  the  code  of 
the  Twelve 
Tables. 


Published  by 
the  consuls 
of  448  B.C. 


to  the  consuls.46  Not  until  462  B.C.  did  the  plebeian 
community  attempt  to  advance  beyond  the  system  of 
defensive  control  over  the  magistrates  of  the  state  by 
establishing  such  an  equality  in  the  administration  of 
the  law  as  would  render  this  clumsy  negative  system 
unnecessary. 

Prior  to  the  Twelve  Tables,  the  private  citizen  of 
Rome  had  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  law  except  by 
asking  some  sage,  who  need  not  answer  unless  he  please, 
and  whose  view  had  no  authority  except  that  which  his 
personal  reputation  implied.  In  462  B.C.  a  tribune  made 
a  proposal  to  the  concilium  of  the  plebs  that  a  commis- 
sion of  five  be  appointed  to  clear  up  the  forms  of  legal 
procedure;46  and  in  the  next  year  a  resolution  of  the 
whole  college  of  tribunes  was  framed  for  that  end.  First 
a  commission  of  three  was  appointed  to  gather  informa- 
tion from  the  Greek  codes,  and  then  a  commission  of 
ten  patricians  with  consular  powers  (decemviri  consulari 
imperio  le gibus  scribendis),  whose  duty  it  was  to  frame 
and  publish  a  code  of  law  binding  equally  on  both  orders 
and  creating  equal  rights  for  all.47  The  outcome  was 
the  Twelve  Tables  which,  after  confirmation  by  the  cen- 
turies, were  published  to  the  masses  by  the  consuls  of 
448  B.C.;48  and,  in  the  words  of  Livy,  remained  the 
"fountain  of  all  public  and  private  law."49  The  code 
was  thoroughly  Roman,  both  as  to  substantive  and  ad- 

49  "Tribunos  et  aediles  turn  primum  per  seditionem  sibi  plebes  creavit." 
—  Gell.,  xxiii,  21.   See  also  Pompon.,  Dig.,  i,  2,  2,  21;  Dion.,  vi,  90. 

48  Liv.,  iii,  9;  Pompon.,  Dig.,  i,  2,  2,  4;  Mommsen,  Staatsrecht,  vol.  ii, 
p.  202. 

47  "Se  ....  omnibus,  summis  infimisque  jura  aequasse."  —  Liv.,  iii,  34. 

48  "Leges  ....  in  aes  incisas  in  publico  proposuerunt."  —  Liv.,  iii,  57, 
10.  Pomponius  says,  "in  tabulas  eboreas  prescriptas."  —  Dig.,  i,  2,  2,  4. 

49  "Decern  tabularum  leges  quae  nunc  quoque  in  hoc  immenso  aliarum 
super  alias  acervatarum  legam  cumulo  fons  omnis  publici  privatique  est 
juris."  —  Liv.,  iii,  34. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION 


103 


jective  law,  and  so  remained  eminently  national  and 
un-Hellenic  to  the  end  of  the  Republic.50 

Not  until  eighty-one  years  after  the  close  of  the  strug- 
gle that  culminated  in  the  enactment  of  the  decemviral 
code  was  the  administration  of  civil  law  (jus  civile)  sev- 
ered from  the  consulship  and  entrusted  to  a  separate 
magistrate  known  as  the  praetor  urbanus51  who,  if  not 
a  jurisconsult  himself,  was  a  magistrate  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  were.  The  law  the  praetor  urbanus 
administered  was  the  local  law  of  a  city,  now  called  jus 
civile  in  the  special  and  narrower  sense  of  the  term,  the 
jus  proprium  civium  Romanorum.  More  than  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  years  after  the  creation  of  the  praetor 
urbanus,  a  new  praetor  was  appointed  at  Rome,  242  B.C., 
known  as  praetor  peregrinus,  whose  duty  it  was  to  decide 
cases  between  foreigners  (perigrini)  and  between  Roman 
citizens  and  foreigners.  An  attempt  has  been  made  al- 
ready to  explain  the  necessity  for  the  appointment  of  this 
new  judge  out  of  whose  jurisdiction  grew  the  jus  gentium, 
the  law  common  to  all  nations,62  by  whose  broad  and 
philosophic  conceptions  the  narrow  archaic  law  of  Rome 
was  so  enriched  and  expanded  that  in  time  it  was  largely 
superseded.  Finally  it  could  be  said  that,  as  a  result  of 
that  process,  "Roman  law  was  finished;  the  local  law  of 
the  city  had  passed  into  a  law  available  for  the  world  in 
general."68 

No  mention  has  so  far  been  made  of  the  creation  of 
the  office  of  censor,  which  from  small  beginnings54  grew 

50  Cf.  Bryce,  p.  755. 

51  "Cum  consules  avocarentur  bellis  finitimis  neque  esset,  qui  in  urbe  jus 
redere  posset,  factum  est  ut  praetor  quoque  crearetur,  qui  urbanus  appel- 
latus  est,  quod  in  urbe  jus  redderet."  —  Pompon.,  Dig.,  i,  2,  2,  27. 

62  See  above. 
53  Sohm,  p.  86. 

84  Liv.  1.  c. :  "Idem  hie  annus  censurae  initium  fuit,  rei  a  parva  origine 
ortae."  —  Greenidge,  p.  115. 


Praetor  ur- 
banus, 367 
B.C. 

Adminis- 
tered local 
law. 


Praetor 
peregrinus, 
242  B.C. 


Jus  gentium. 


Censor  and 
his  duties. 


104 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Regimen 
morum. 


Constitution 
of  city-state 
in  second 
half  of  fifth 
century  B.C. 


into  one  of  the  greatest  of  political  prizes.  In  the  year 
443  B.C.  two  new  officials,  called  censores,  were  created, 
who  were  to  be  elected  by  the  assembly  out  of  the  pa- 
triciate, whose  primary  duty  was  to  attend  to  the  regis- 
tration, which  involved  indirectly  not  only  the  imposition 
of  pecuniary  burdens  on  individuals,  but  also  an  inquisi- 
tion into  character  always  necessary  as  a  qualification  at 
Rome  for  the  performance  of  the  humblest  public  func- 
tion. 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  in  time  that  the  rule  of  manners 
(regimen  morum)  overshadowed  every  other  aspect 
of  the  censor's  office. 

Such,  in  general  terms,  was  the  nature  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  city-state  in  the  second  half  of  the  fifth  century 
before  Christ,  when  Rome  was  still  an  aristocratic  com- 
munity of  free  peasants,  occupying  an  area  of  about  400 
square  miles,  with  a  population  estimated  at  not  more 
than  i50,ooo.55  That  population  dispersed  over  the 
countryside  was  divided  into  seventeen  districts  or  rural 
tribes,  most  of  the  families  having  a  cottage  of  their 
own  and  a  small  holding,  where  father  and  sons  lived  and 
worked  together,  with  the  cattle  kept  at  pasture  on  the 
neighboring  commonland.  The  constitution  of  the  Roman 
city-state  was  slowly  evolved;  it  was  the  outgrowth  of 
the  character  of  the  Roman  nation;  and  its  form  was 
therefore  in  strictness  that  of  a  restrained  democracy. 

5r'  Ferrero,  Greatness  and  Decline  of  Rome,  vol.  i,  p.  I,  who  says:  "It  is 
true  that,  according  to  Livy,  iii,  24,  the  census  of  459  B.C.  counted  117,319 
citizens,  which  would  give  a  free  population  of  about  400,000.  But  these 
figures  do  not  seem  to  me  probable,  for  the  following  reasons:  (1)  If  Rome 
had  at  that  time  had  as  many  as  120,000  soldiers,  she  would  not  have 
experienced  so  much  difficulty  in  conquering  the  small  neighbouring  peoples. 
(2)  A  population  of  over  1,000  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile  could  not 
possibly  have  subsisted,  no  matter  how  poor,  at  a  time  when  Rome  lived 
entirely  on  the  produce  of  the  land.  (3)  These  figures  do  not  agree  with 
others  which  are  more  certain." 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  105 

It  was  in  fact  more  popular  in  form  than  any  other  of 
which  there  is  a  record  in  history. 

As  the  ancient  world  knew  nothing  of  the  Teutonic 
invention  now  called  representative  government,  the  sov-    Sovereign 

£    <i         •.  1   •  •  powers  of  the 

ereign  powers  of  the  city-state  were  vested  in  a  primary   statevested 
assembly,  comitia,  in  which,  as  in  a  New  England  town  in  a  primary 
meeting,  each  citizen  represented  himself.56     The  mag- 
istrates were  elected  annually  by  the  assembly,  a  supreme 
court  of  appeal  without  whose  sanction  no  freeman  could 
lawfully  be  put  to  death.     In  the  assembly  was  vested 
the  supreme  power  of  legislation,  where  consul,  praetor, 
or  tribune  could  propose  a  law  to  the  people,  who  could 
accept  it,  if  it  pleased  them,  and  then  swear  all  public 
officials  to  obey  it  under  penalty  of  treason.     As  a  check 
on  the  possible  rashness  of  such  a  democracy,  it  was  pro- 
vided that  a  veto  might  be  interposed  by  a  single  consul   The  veto 
or  tribune,  which,  however,  would  be  binding  only  during  Power- 
his  year  of  office.     Thus  a  way  was  provided  for  making 
that  question  a  condition  for  popular  approval  at  the  next 
election. 

In  the  early  days  at  Rome,  law-making  devolved  en- 
tirely upon  primary  popular  assemblies  which  could  be 
convoked  and  presided  over  only  by  a  magistrate;  no 
discussion  took  place  in  them;  they  met  only  on  proposi- 
tions of  the  presiding  magistrate,  who  alone  could  speak, 
and  who  spoke  only  to  put  the  question.  They  voted  Vote  of  as- 
once  only,  and  that  vote  was  final  and  supreme,  requir-   semb'yfinal 

*'  r  ,  and  supreme. 

ing  no  assent  of  or  confirmation  by  any  other  body,  but 
operating  directly  to  create  a  rule  binding  all  members 
of  the  state.  In  order  that  it  might  be  understood  by 
the  ordinary  citizen,   the  bill  proposed  was  necessarily 

66  Just  like  a  Homeric  dyopdf  an  Athenian  eKKk-nalaf  a  Frankish  mallum, 
an  old  English  gemot,  an  Icelandic  thing.     Cf.  Freeman,  pp.  46,  130,  136, 
!i42,  148. 


io6 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Bills  not 
amendable. 


Senate  func- 
tions advi- 
sory and  ad- 
ministrative. 


Lex  Horten- 
sia, 287  B.C. 


Sovereign 
powers 
gradually 
usurped  by 
the  Senate. 


clear  and  terse.  As  it  could  not  be  amended  by  the 
assembly  the  proposing  magistrate  responsible  for  it  was 
likely  to  prepare  it  with  scrupulous  care,  as  it  could  not  be 
corrected  at  any  later  stage  or  in  any  other  legislative 
body.57 

The  functions  of  the  Senate  were  primarily  advisory 
and  administrative,  both  as  to  religious  and  secular 
policy;  it  was  without  direct  legislative  authority.  And 
yet  as  a  matter  of  custom  and  not  of  right  it  was  per- 
mitted in  normal  times  to  preconsider  new  schemes  of 
legislation  prior  to  their  submission  to  the  assembly,  and 
to  refuse  to  recommend  them,  if  they  were  considered 
inexpedient.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  Senate  to  express 
its  opinion  of  a  proposed  law  before  and  not  after  the 
popular  assembly,  and  by  the  lex  Hortensia,  in  287  B.C., 
the  resolutions  of  the  assembly  of  the  plebs  became  law 
even  without  the  ratification  of  the  Senate.58  Thus  it 
was  that  the  assembly  of  the  tribes  slipped  from  the 
control  of  the  Senate,  while  about  241  B.C.  the  assembly 
of  the  centuries  was  reformed  in  such  a  way  as  to  deprive 
the  rich  of  much  of  their  former  influence. 

The  problem  of  problems  in  the  history  of  the  Roman 
constitution  is  that  involved  in  the  process  through  which 
the  sovereign  powers,  originally  vested  in  what  Momm- 
sen  calls  "a  clumsy  collegiate  government"  by  popular 
assemblies,  were  gradually  usurped  by  the  Senate  as  the 
organ  of  a  rich  and  powerful  aristocracy.  The  explana- 
tion is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  as  the  dominion  of 

87  Cf.  Bryce,  pp.  708  sq. 

68  Gaius,  i,  3 :  "Olim  patricii  dicebant  plebi  scitis  se  non  teneri,  quia  sine  j 
auctoritate  eorum  facta  essent;  sed  postea  lex  Hortensia  lata  est,  qua 
cautum  est,  ut  plebi  scita  universum  populum  tenerent,  itaque  eo  modo 
legibus  exaequata  sunt."  By  the  date  of  the  lex  Hortensia  (287  B.C.)  the 
republican  constitution  had,  in  all  essential  points  (considered  as  the 
constitution  of  a  city-state),  completed  its  growth.  —  Greenidge,  p.  133. 


I 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  107 

the  city-state  was  extended  over  a  vast  area  of  territory 
which  it  was  compelled  to  govern,  without  the  modern 
device  known  as  representative  government,  the  archaic   Why  the 
democratic  machine  simply  broke  down  in  the  presence   democratic 
of  an  impossible  task.    The  stress  of  incessant  war  made   machine 
it  plain  that  the  Senate  as  a  permanent  body  of  trained 
administrators  was  the  only  power  capable  of  conducting 
affairs  when  a  large  part  of  the  voters,  who  nominally 
composed  the  assemblies,  were  away  with  the  legions; 
and  who,  even  when  assembled,  were  ill  qualified  to  settle 
momentous  and  complex  questions  of  military  strategy 
and  foreign  affairs. 

As  conquest  advanced,  the  spoils  of  war,  including 
money,  poured  mainly  into  the  hands  of  the  senatorial 
families  and  into  those  of  certain  great  commoners  who, 
converting  money  into  political  power,  bought  their  way 
into  the  Senate  through  elections  to  the  magistracies 
which  were  open  to  all.  Clubs  and  coteries  managed 
the  elections  to  the  offices  of  quaestor,  aedile,  praetor  or 
consul,  and  in  that  way  those  who  won  magisterial  power 
passed  for  life  into  the  Senate,  which,  as  the  permanent  Senate  a 
council  of  state,  became  the  real  governor  of  the  growing  permanent 

.  .  ....  .         ,  council  of 

Empire.     From  its  own  membership  it  appointed  gov-  state. 

ernors  of  the  provinces,  it  controlled  the  revenue,  and 

directed  the  public  policy. 

The  land  question,  the  eternal  question  at  Rome,  arose   The  land 
,out  of  the  habit  of  adding  to  the  public  domain  (ager  iuestlon- 
\publicus)  a  third  or  more  of  the  confiscated  lands  of  the 
i  conquered,  a  national  fund  constantly  mismanaged  and 

plundered  throughout  the  period  of  the  Republic.  Old 
•agrarian  troubles  beginning  in  that  way  were  intensified 
'when,  with  the  concentration  of  wealth  in  a  few  hands, 

small  holdings  were  swept  together,  by  purchase  and  by 


io8 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Great  estates. 


Slave  labor. 


Two  stages 
of  disin- 
tegration. 


Origin  of 

Roman 

imperialism. 


Expansion 
drew  the 
line  between 
optimates 
and 
populates. 


fraud,  into  great  estates  whose  proprietors,  as  conquest 
advanced,  began  to  purchase  slaves  by  thousands.  It  is 
said  that,  about  the  beginning  of  the  first  century  B.C., 
the  greater  part  of  the  lands  of  Italy,  used  largely  for 
sheep  farming,  were  held  by  not  more  than  two  thousand 
persons.  Thus  the  small  farmers  everywhere,  even  if 
they  were  able  to  keep  their  lands,  were  ruined  by  the 
unfair  competition  of  slave  labor.  And,  as  the  slave 
settlements  established  on  the  great  estates  grew,  the 
villages  of  freemen  disappeared,  thus  diminishing  the 
material  for  the  legions,  and  driving  into  Rome  the  dregs 
of  the  free  population  who,  with  votes  to  sell,  became 
the  clients  of  the  millionaires. 

The  first  stage  in  that  process  of  disintegration  is 
marked  by  the  natural  expansion  of  Rome  over  Italy; 
the  second,  by  the  sudden  conquest  of  the  Mediterranean 
Basin  completed  by  the  fall  of  Carthage,  146  B.C.  After 
reviewing  the  history  of  such  expansion  down  to  that 
point  a  leading  authority  has  said: 

It  was  during  this  slow  decomposition  of  the  military,  agri- 
cultural, and  aristocratic  society,  which  began  after  Rome  had 
won  the  supreme  power  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  through  the 
working  of  the  forces  of  commerce  and  capitalism,  that  Roman 
Imperialism,  as  we  know  it,  was  called  into  being.59 

Thus  it  was  that  expansion  through  military  conquest 
drew  the  line  at  Rome  between  the  over-rich  and  power- 
ful few  and  the  destitute  many  —  variously  described  as 
the  rich  and  poor;  the  optimates,  the  best,  and  the 
■populates ,  the  people;  the  possessors  and  the  non-pos- 
sessors. At  the  head  of  the  optimates,  with  their  grow- 
ing estates  and  swelling  millions,  backed  by  vast  political 
and    judicial    powers,    stood    the    senatorial    oligarchy. 

e9  Ferrero,  vol.  i,  p.  38. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION 


109 


Tiberius 
Gracchus 
first  cham- 


Against  that  array  stood  the  people  who,  still  be- 
lieving in  the  gods,  were  steadfast  in  their  resolve  to 
preserve  what  remained  of  the  ancient  constitution  by 
saving  from  annihilation  the  old  independent  yeomanry 
who  had  composed  the  legions  by  whose  valor  the  Empire 
had  been  built  up,  by  regaining  the  public  lands  unlaw- 
fully in  possession  of  the  monopolists,  by  restoring  the 
purity  of  elections,  and  by  reestablishing  the  simple 
habits  of  life  that  had  prevailed  in  earlier  times.60 

The  first  champion  of  the  great  proletarian  rising  of 
the  oppressed  thousands  throughout  Italy  was  Tiberius 
Gracchus,  born  of  a  plebeian  family  whose  ancestors  had 
held  for  several  generations  the  highest  offices  in  the  pionof 
Republic.  In  his  father's  house  he  was  trained  under  pr0  e  ana 
the  most  famous  Greek  philosophers  of  the  day;  and 
there  he  had  heard  the  lamentations  of  notable  statesmen 
who  were  seeking  some  reform  that  would  avert  the  chaos 
threatened  by  the  social  and  military  decadence.  On  his 
return  from  military  service  in  Spain,  where  he  had  wit- 
nessed the  rapid  disintegration  of  the  army,  he  passed 
through  Tuscany  where  he  saw  the  great  estate  system 
in  full  operation  —  the  free  citizens  of  the  Republic  being 
cast  aside  as  aliens  in  their  own  country  by  slave-gangs 
cultivating  the  fields  of  landlords  whose  domains  had 
not  even  been  fairly  purchased. 

Thus  inflamed,  the  young  and  sanguine  reformer  re- 
vived the  long-forgotten  agrarian  agitation  with  the  hope 
of  removing  the  distress  at  Rome  and  of  arresting  the 
decay  of  the  army.  His  contention  was  that  the  dying 
country  towns  of  Italy  would  be  revived,  and  the  whole 
military  problem  solved  at  a  blow,  if  the  state  lands 
could  only  be  recovered  and  then  divided  into  small  hold- 

*°  Froude,  Caesar,  pp.  21-24. 


His  scheme 
of  reform. 


no 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


ings,  upon  which  the  distressed  poor  of  Rome  and  Latium 
could  be  settled  as  peasant  proprietors.  He  said  to  the 
people:  "You  are  called  'lords  of  the  earth'  without  pos- 
sessing a  single  clod  to  call  your  own."  Such  a  cause, 
backed  by  such  eloquence,  easily  lifted  Tiberius  into  the 
Madetribune  tribuneship  for  the  year  133, 61  where  he  proposed  that 
the  state  should  resume  all  of  the  "common  land"  not 
occupied  by  authorized  persons  and  in  compliance  with 
the  Licinian  law.62 

When  the  landlords  discovered  that  they  could  not 
count  even  upon  the  solid  support  of  the  Senate  they 
attempted  to  prevent  an  adverse  vote  in  the  assembly 
by  inducing  a  colleague  of  Tiberius  to  interpose  his  tri- 
bunician  veto.  Thus  thwarted,  the  impetuous  reformer 
called  upon  the  people  to  depose  his  colleague  in  defiance 
of  the  constitution,  and  then  to  pass  the  bill,  despite  the 
veto,  which  they  did.  When  he  took  the  second  illegal 
step  by  offering  himself  to  the  comitia  for  reelection  the 
Forum  became  the  scene  of  violence  and  bloodshed  in 
which  Tiberius  perished  with  many  of  his  friends.63  But 
even  such  a  catastrophe  did  not  prevent  the  three  com- 
missioners appointed  under  the  land  bill,  one  of  them 
the  only  brother  of  Tiberius,  from  prosecuting  their  task. 
They  made  their  way  through  Cisalpine  Gaul  and  the 
south  of  Italy  delimiting  and  distributing  the  public 
lands;64  and  in  that  way,  it  is  said,  that  within  two  years 
forty  thousand  families  were  settled  on  various  parts  of 
the  ager  publicus  which  the  patricians  had  been  compelled 
to  resign. 

61  Lange,  R.  A.,  vol.  iii,  p.  7 ;  Plut.,  Tib.  Gr.,  9. 

62  Plut.,   T.   Gr.,  9-14;   Appian,  B.C.,  i,  9-13;   Liv.,  Epit.,  lviii;   Cic, 
De  Leg.  Agr.,  ii,  31 ;  Mommsen,  R.  G.,  vol.  ii,  pp.  68  sg. 

83  Cf.  Meyer,  U.  G.  G.,  pp.  24ff. 

04Barnabei,  in  Notizie  degli  scavi,  March,  1897;  Ferrero,  vol.  i,  p.  48. 


His  illegal 
acts  brought 
about  his 
death. 


Land 
commission. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  in 

The  leadership  of  the  popular  movement  inaugurated 
by  Tiberius  through  gross  illegality,  resulting  in  his  own 
death  and  that  of  many  others,  passed  into  far  stronger 
hands  when  his  brother  Caius,  one  of  the  three  land  com-  Caius  Grac- 
missioners,  was  elected  tribune  of  the  people  for  the  I23BC 
year  123  B.C.05  During  the  ten  years  that  had  passed  by 
since  his  brother's  election  to  that  office  Caius,  who  was 
his  superior  both  in  character  and  intellect,  had  devoted 
himself  to  reading,  and,  as  Cicero  tells  us,  to  the  culti- 
vation of  his  oratorical  style: 

His  language  was  noble;  his  sentiments  manly  and  judicious;    Cicero's 
and  his  whole  manner  great  and  striking.     He  wanted  nothing        tc  ' 

but  the  finishing  touch:  for  though  his  first  attempts  were  as  ex- 
cellent as  they  were  numerous,  he  did  not  live  to  complete  them. 
In  short,  my  Brutus,  he,  if  anyone,  should  be  carefully  studied 
by  the  Roman  youth;  for  he  is  able,  not  only  to  sharpen,  but  to 
enrich  and  ripen  their  talents.66 

Thus  equipped,  the  new  tribune,  who  had  been  schooled 
in  adversity,  and  admonished  by  his  brother's  failure 
through  his  reliance  for  support  on  one  section  only  of 
the  community,  understood  perfectly  that  the  combina- 
tion against  him,  consisting  of  "a  small  and  exclusive 
oligarchy  of  landlords  and  traders,  bankers  and  conces- 
sion hunters,  artisans,  adventurers,  and  loafers,"67  could 
not  be  overcome  unless  he  could  formulate  such  a  pro- 
gram as  would  appeal  to  the  self-interest  of  many  con- 
stituents. With  that  idea  in  his  mind,  Caius,  as  the  His  scheme 
avowed  enemy  of  the  Senate,  threatened  its  control  of  °  re  orm* 
the  administration  by  proposing  to  restrict  its  freedom 
of  action  in  assigning  the  provinces;68  by  taking  out  of 

65  Plut.,  C.  Gr.,  3. 
60  Brut.,  xxxiii,  125. 
67  Ferrero,  vol.  i,  p.  51. 

6S  Lex  Sempronia  de  provinciis  consularibus ;  Pro  Domo  Sua,  9;  Cicero, 
De  Provinciis  Consularibus,  2,  7. 


112 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Poor-relief. 

Established 

citizen 

colony. 


Extension 
of  Roman 
citizenship. 


its  hands  the  control  of  the  recently  established  court  for 
the  trial  of  cases  of  magisterial  misgovernment  in  the 
provinces;69  and  by  declaring  the  summary  punishment 
of  Roman  citizens  by  the  consuls  on  the  strength  of 
a  senatus  consultum  to  be  a  violation  of  the  law  of 
appeal.70 

He  conciliated  the  poor  by  proposing  a  law  providing 
that  every  Roman  citizen,  on  personal  application,  should 
be  given  corn  from  the  public  granaries  at  half  or  less 
than  half  of  the  market  price;71  and,  as  a  further  meas- 
ure of  poor-relief,  after  establishing  new  colonies  in  Italy, 
he  founded  the  first  citizen  colony  established  by  the 
Romans  outside  of  Italy  by  sending  six  thousand  settlers, 
Italians  as  well  as  Romans,  to  the  site  of  Carthage, 
founding  there  a  colony  called  Junonia.72  But  last  and 
most  important  of  all,  his  master  stroke  was  embodied 
in  a  proposal,  suggested  by  Flaccus,  to  make  the  Roman 
Empire  into  an  Italian  Empire  by  conferring  the  rights 
of  Roman  citizenship  upon  all  the  Italians,73  thus  making 
the  entire  population  of  the  peninsula  copartners  with 
the  Romans  in  the  benefits  and  responsibilities  of  power. 

The  argument  in  favor  of  that  proposal  had  become 
irresistible : 

That  the  world  and  Italy  besides  should  continue  subject  to  the 
population  of  a  single  city,  of  its  limited  Latin  environs,  and  of  a 
handful  of  townships  exceptionally  favored,  might  even  then  be 
seen  to  be  plainly  impossible.  The  Italians  were  Romans  in  every 
point,  except  in  the  possession  of  the  franchise.  They  spoke  the 
same  language;  they  were  subjects  of  the  same  dominion.     They 

MQuestio  de  Repetundis,  est  149  B.C.  Cf.  Plut.,  67.  Gr.,  5;  Tacitus, 
A nnals,  xii,  60 ;  Liv.,  Epit.,  lx. 

™  Pro  Domo,  xxxi;  Pro  Rab.  Perd.,  iv;  Plut,  67.  Gr.,  iv. 

71  App.,  B.  C,  1,  21 ;  Liv.,  Epit.,  lx;  Festus,  290;  Plut.,  67.  Gr.,  v. 

72  Plut.,  67.  Gr.,  9.    Cf.  Callegari,  L.  S.  C,  99. 
78  App.,  B.  67.,  i,  23  ;  Brut.,  xxvi,  19;  Velleius,  ii,  6;  Plut.,  67.  Gr.,  v. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  113 

were  as  well  educated,  they  were  as  wealthy,  they  were  as  capable 
as  the  inhabitants  of  the  dominant  state.74 

But  splendid  as  was  that  conception  of  a  vigorous  and   Premature 
united  Italian  nation,  resting  upon  the  manhood  of  the   ^Italian 
entire  population  of  the  peninsula  and  not  upon  that  of   nation. 
a  municipal  oligarchy,  it  was  not  yet  to  be  realized.     It 
was  unacceptable  for  the  moment  to  so  many  interests  as 
to  wreck  Caius'  popularity  to  such  an  extent  as  to  make 
many  assert  that  he  was  not  actually  rechosen  at  the  elec- 
tions for  121  B.C.      In  the  midst  of  the  bitterness  aroused 
against  him  by  the  senatorial  party,  he  summoned  a  meet- 
ing at  the  close  of  his  second  tribunate  and  attempted  to    Caius' vio- 
speak.     But  a  conflict  between  the  factions  ensued,  ending    ent  eat  ' 
in  a  riot  in  which  Caius  and  thousands  of  his  adherents 
were  massacred.75 

The  tragic  parts  played  by  the  Gracchi  so  aroused  the   Revival  of 
proletarian  spirit  of  the  new  Italy  as  to  make  a  revival   ^J^^^L 
of  the  popular  cause  under  a  new  leadership  inevitable.    Marius. 
In  the  graphic  words  of  Mirabeau:   "The  mother  of  the 
Gracchi  cast  the  dust  of  her  murdered  sons  into  the  air, 
and  out  of  it  sprang  Caius   Marius."     Fifty-one  years 
before   Cicero  saw  the  light  at  Arpinum,   Marius  was 
>  born  there  on  the  farm  of  his  father,  who  was  either  a 
peasant  or  an  obscure  knight.76    At  an  early  age  he  gave 
up  the  plough  to  join  the  army,  and  shortly  after  the 
murder  of  Caius  Gracchus  he  was  chosen  to  the  tribu-   Chosen 
nate,  a  position  in  which  he  did  not  hesitate  to  criticize  tn  ""e' 

'  r  I20  B.C. 

in  his  own  way  both  the  proletariat  and  the  aristocracy.77 
"He  seemed  as  if  made  of  a  block  of  hard  Roman  oak, 

7*  Froude,  Caesar,  p.  50. 

75  "Thus  perished  one  of  the  four  founders  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and 
perhaps  the  most  far-seeing  statesman  Rome  ever  produced."  —  Ferrero, 
vol.  i,  p.  57. 

76  Cf.  Madvig,  K.  P.  S.,  p.  525. 

77  Neumann,  G.  R.  V.,  p.  261. 


ii4 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Consul  in 
107  B.C. 


Married  the 
aunt  of 
Caesar. 


Marius 
remodeled 
the  army. 


Drew  profes- 
sional sol- 
diers from 
the  poor. 


gnarled  and  knotted,  but  sound  in  all  its  fibres."  78  His 
first  great  success  as  a  general  was  won  in  the  war  with 
Jugurtha,  which  he  brought  to  a  close  in  106  B.C. —  a  war 
in  which  a  young  nobleman  named  Sulla  fought  under  him. 

The  passions  which  had  been  smoldering  for  a  genera- 
tion among  the  middle  classes,  the  proletariat,  and  the 
capitalists  now  broke  into  flame  against  the  aristocracy, 
lifting  Marius  in  triumph  to  the  consulship  for  the  first 
time  in  the  election  campaign  of  107  B.C.  Just  before  that 
event  he  had  become  a  person  of  social  consideration 
through  a  marriage  into  a  noble  but  not  particularly  illus- 
trious family,79  that  of  Caius  Julius  Caesar,  who  had 
married  Marcia,  the  mother  of  Caius  Julius,  Sextus 
Julius,  and  a  daughter  named  Julia,  who  became  the  wife 
of  Marius.  Caius  Julius,  the  father  of  the  great  Caesar, 
had  married  Aurelia,  a  member  perhaps  of  the  consular 
family  of  the  Cottas. 

Before  leaving  for  Africa  to  take  away  the  command 
of  the  Numidian  war  from  Metellus,  Marius  undertook 
to  remodel  the  army  by  extending  the  levy  to  poor  men 
not  inscribed  in  any  of  the  five  classes  of  landowners,  and 
who  therefore  had  no  right  to  bear  arms  under  the  ancient 
constitution.80  Instead  of  attempting  as  the  Gracchi  did 
to  revive  the  strength  of  the  old  yeoman  class,  the  orig- 
inal source  of  the  legions,  heretofore  no  more  than 
citizens  temporarily  in  arms,  he  provided  professional 
soldiers  by  raising  his  levies  from  among  the  poor  in 
town  and  country  —  an  innovation  that  resulted  in  momen- 
tous changes  in  political  and  military  organization.81 

78  Froude,  Caesar,  p.  38. 

79  Pauly,  R.  E.,  vol.  iv,  p.  1557. 

80  Sail.,  B.  J.,  86 ;  Aul.  Gell.,  xvi,  10,  14. 

81  Cf.  E.  Baroni,  /  grandi  cafitani  sino  alia  Rivoluzione  Francese, 
Turin,  1898;  "Annibale,"  32ff. ;  Ferrero,  vol.  i,  p.  66. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION 


"5 


Out  of  materials  thus  gathered  by  such  methods  such 
an  army  was  formed  as  no  other  Roman  general  had 
ever  commanded;  and  the  change  came  just  in  time  to 
enable  Marius,  now  the  hero  of  the  populares,  to  turn 
back  the  tide  of  invasion  headed  by  the  Teutons  and 
Cimbri,  two  mighty  nations  of  "horrible  barbarians," 
who  came  as  the  vanguard  of  that  great  German  folk- 
wandering  destined  to  change  the  face  and  the  history 
of  Europe.  In  the  decisive  victory  won  at  Vercellae, 
101  B.C.,  Marius  settled  the  fact  that  Gaul  was  to  be  a 
province  of  Rome  and  not  the  prey  of  the  Germans. 
Italy  was  saved  by  legionaries  who,  while  still  citizens, 
were  also  professional  soldiers,  armed  with  the  double 
power  of  the  hustings  and  the  sword.  The  change  did 
not  however  disturb  the  old  law  prohibiting  standing 
armies  in  Italy;  victorious  generals  returning  from  abroad 
were  still  required  to  disband  their  legions  before  entering 
on  her  sacred  soil. 

The  menace  of  the  Germanic  invasion  was  scarcely 
over  before  Rome  was  torn  from  within  by  what  is  known 
as  the  Social  or  Italian  war,  arising  out  of  the  demand 
for  enfranchisement  upon  the  part  of  the  Latins  and 
Italians  whose  just  cause  had  been  so  earnestly  espoused 
by  Caius  Gracchus.  Now  when  the  old  political  organi- 
zation of  the  separate  districts  had  lost  all  real  meaning, 
now  when  the  intellectual  and  economic  unification  of 
Italy  was  gradually  breaking  down  all  distinctions  be- 
tween Romans,  Latins,  and  allies,  the  jealous  and  exclu- 
sive oligarchy  at  Rome  was  startled  by  a  movement  that 
had  spread  far  and  wide  through  the  peninsula.  When 
Livius  Drusus,82  an  ambitious  and  popular  young  aristo- 

82  Cicero  claimed  him  as  a  member  of  that  party  to  which  he  himself 
belonged.  —  De  Orat.,  i,  25,  and  Pro  Domo,  16.  See  also  Appian,  B.C., 
i,  35;  Diod.  Sic,  xxxvii,  10. 


Made  Gaul 
a  Roman 
province. 


Social  or 
Italian  war. 


Drusus 
elected  trib- 
une, 91  B.C. 


n6 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


His 
proposals. 


His  assassi- 
nation pre- 
cipitated the 
conflict. 


Number  of 
burgesses 
more  than 
doubled. 


crat,  elected  tribune  of  the  people  in  the  year  91  B.C.,  at- 
tempted to  isolate  the  moneyed  interests  by  an  alliance 
between  the  aristocracy  and  the  popular  party,  he  brought 
forward  a  number  of  laws  designed  to  please  the  popu- 
lates, and  among  them  a  law  depriving  the  knights  of 
their  powers  in  the  law  courts,  and  another  making  the 
long-delayed  concession  of  the  franchise  to  the  Italians.83 
The  first  proposal  excited  the  equestrian  order  and  their 
friends  in  the  Senate  to  fury;  the  second  was  represented 
as  evidence  of  complicity  with  a  widespread  conspiracy 
against  the  very  life  of  the  city-state. 

At  such  a  moment  the  flame  of  civil  war  was  lighted 
when  Drusus  was  struck  down  by  an  unknown  assassin. 
At  that  signal  men  rushed  to  arms  in  the  cause  of  united 
Italy;  throughout  the  highlands  of  the  central  and  south- 
ern districts  the  Italian  people  rose  as  one  man.84  After 
a  bitter  struggle  the  Italians  triumphed  through  a  com-l 
promise  by  which  practically  all  the  freemen  south  of 
the  Po  were  made  equal  in  civil  and  political  rights.85 
By  that  great  stroke  of  policy  the  number  of  the  Roman 
burgesses  was  more  than  doubled  through  the  wholesale 
enfranchisement  of  Latin  and  Italian  allies.  The  census 
for  the  year  70  B.C.  gives  the  number  of  citizens  as 
900,000,  as  against  394,336  about  a  generation  before 
the  war.88 

83  For  the  provisions  of  the  leges  Liviae,  see  App.,  B.  C,  i,  35;  Liv., 
Epit.,  Ixxi;  Pliny,  N.H.,  xxxiii,  3.  Cf.  also  Lange,  R.A.,  vol.  iii,  p.  88; 
Neumann,  G.  R.  V.,  pp.  45off. 

84  As  to  the  Social  War,  see  Kiene,  D.  Romische  Bundesgenossenkrieg, 
Leipzig,  1845. 

86  In  89  B.C.  two  tribunes  proposed  the  lex  Plautia  Papiria,  under  which 
any  citizen  of  an  allied  town  domiciled  in  Italy  could  obtain  the  rights  of 
Roman  citizenship  on  making  a  declaration  within  sixty  days  to  the  praetor 
at  Rome. 

86  See  the  interesting  table  showing  the  number  of  Roman  citizens  at 
different  periods  of  the  Republic  and  the  Empire,  in  Meyers,  Ancient 
History,  p.  49a. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  117 

During  the  seven  years  that  intervened  between  the 
end  of  the  Social  War  (89  B.C.)   and  the  beginning  of 
the  dictatorship  of  Sulla   (82  B.C.)   occurred  the  death   Death grap- 
grapple  between  the  popular  party,  headed  by  Marius,   JjariMand 
the  self-made  man  of  the  people,  and  the  senatorial  party,   Sulla, 
headed  by  the  patrician  Sulla,  resulting  in  the  complete 
triumph  of  the  latter.     The  harrowing  military  details 
are  not  important  to  the  constitutional  historian  who  sees, 
in  the  midst  of  the  strife  that  spread  from  the  Forum  to 
Italy  and  from  Italy  to  the  provinces,  the  integrity  of 
the  Empire  threatened  for  the  first  time  by  rival  gov- 
ernors, and  all  regular  government,  whether  by  Senate  All  regular 
or  Assembly,  suspended  while  the  rival  factions  fought  fu^ended! 
out  their  quarrels  under  generals  willing  to  lead  their 
legions  not  only  against  their  fellow-citizens  but  against 
the  established  authorities  of  the  state  itself.     When  in 
87  B.C.   Marius,  aided  by  Cinna,  cut  off  Rome's  food 
supply  and  starved  her  into  submission,  he  marked  his 
triumph  by  a  massacre  of  the  aristocrats,  including  their 
representative,  the  consul  Cnaeus  Octavius,  whose  head,    Head  of  a 
the  head  of  a  consul,  was  exposed  to  public  gaze  in  front   °°"ed0e„ 
of  the  Rostra.     Before  the  younger  Marius  took  the   the  Rostra, 
field  in  the  spring  of  82  B.C.,  he  committed  to  the  praetor 
Damasippus  the  bloody  task  of  executing  a  number  of   Execution  of 
the  aristocracy,87  including  the  eminent  jurist,  Q.  Mucius  Zf^EJ!!,  a 
Scaevola,  pontifex  maximus,  who  seems  to  have  been  cut 
down  before  the  very  image  of  Vesta,  into  whose  sanctu- 
j  ary  he  had  fled  from  his  official  residence,   the  Regia, 
1  nearby.88    Under  such  conditions  it  was  that  Sulla,  at  the 
i  end  of  the  Mithridatic  war,  wrote  to  the  Senate  that  he 
i  would  soon  arrive  at  Rome  to  take  vengeance  on  the 
i  Marian  party,  his  enemies  and  those  of  the  Republic. 

8T  Lange,  vol.  Ill,  p.  145.  88  Cicero,  De  Natura  Deorum,  in,  32. 


n8 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Sulla  leader 
of  reaction- 
aries, 82  B.C. 


Pompey  the 
Great. 

Crassus. 
Catiline. 


Sulla 

appointed 

dictator. 


His 

proscription. 


Young 
Caius  Julius 
in  danger. 


Returning  from  the  East  laden  with  the  gold  of  Mith- 
ridates,  the  spoils  of  Greek  temples,  and  the  books  of 
Aristotle,  seized  in  the  library  of  Apellicon  at  Athens, 
Sulla,  whose  career  had  been  rather  military  than  polit- 
ical, was  suddenly  called  to  the  leadership  of  the  con- 
servative reactionaries.  Among  those  who  came  to  him 
were  Pompey,  destined  to  be  known  as  Pompey  the  Great, 
who  having  been  born  in  the  same  year  with  Cicero  was 
now  twenty-three,  and  Lucius  Sergius  Catiline,  a  ruined 
spendthrift,  stained  with  every  crime,  but  of  ancient  and 
aristocratic  lineage.  To  his  list  of  parasites,  composed 
of  a  crowd  of  adventurers  as  shameless  and  unscrupulous 
as  himself,  must  be  added  the  aristocratic  financier,  Lucius 
Crassus,  the  representative  of  a  class  that  piled  up 
enormous  riches  by  buying  up  cheap  the  goods  of  the 
proscribed. 

Despite  the  fact  that  no  dictator  had  been  appointed 
since  the  war  with  Hannibal,  such  power  never  having 
been  previously  conferred  for  more  than  six  months, 
Sulla  demanded  of  the  Senate  the  office  of  dictator89 
during  his  own  good  pleasure,  which  carried  with  it  not 
only  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  every  citizen,  but 
plenary  power  for  the  reform  of  the  constitution.  Thus 
armed  he  outlawed  every  magistrate  and  every  public 
servant  who  had  held  any  kind  of  an  office  under  Cinna, 
ordering  at  the  same  time  the  proscription  of  all  persons 
of  wealth  and  consequence  everywhere  in  Italy  who  had 
belonged  to  the  liberal  party.  According  to  one  account 
the  number  of  proscribed  actually  put  to  death  numbered 
nearly  5,000.  Among  those  thus  put  in  jeopardy  was 
the  young  son  of  that  Caius  Julius  Caesar,  whose  sister 

89  The  lex  Valeria  granting  him  the  office  was  passed  without  opposition. 
Cf.  App.,  i,  98;  Plut.,  Sulla,  xxxiii;  Cic,  Ad  Att.,  ix,  15;  De  Leg.,  i,  15. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  119 

Marius  had  married,  now  in  double  peril  because,  apart 
from  being  a  nephew  of  Marius,  he  had  married  Cor- 
nelia, the  daughter  of  Cinna. 

When  the  dictator  commanded  him  to  divorce   her, 
Caesar  refused  to  obey,  preferring  to  sacrifice  his  own 
and  his  wife's  patrimony,   and  to  leave  the  city  at  the 
imminent  risk  of  proscription.     Sulla  was  induced,  how- 
ever, shortly  afterward,  through  the  intervention  of  rela- 
tives, to  give  him  a  free  pardon.90     That  act  of  grace 
and  favor,  grudgingly  extended  to  Caius  Julius  then  only 
eighteen,  was  attended  by  another  of  even  wider  signifi- 
cance.    Sulla  reassured  the  Italians  by  declaring  that  he 
would  not  attack  the  great  measure  of  Italian  emanci-   Italian 
pation  —  that  he  accepted  it  as  an  accomplished  fact.91   acceptedby 
Thus  in  the  midst  of  the  gravest  political  confusion  a    Sulla- 
great  historic  process  was  quietly  completed. 

The  old  Italy,  the  Italy  of  Oscans,  Sabellians,  Umbrians,  Latins, 
Etruscans,  Greeks,  and  Gauls  had  disappeared  into  the  past.  In 
place  of  a  number  of  small  federal  republics,  there  was  now  a 
single  Italian  nation,  with  an  agriculture,  a  commerce,  an  army,  a 
civilization,  and  culture  of  its  own,  welded  together  into  a  solid 
and  compact  middle  class  out  of  a  medley  of  human  units  from  all 
parts  of  the  peninsula  who  had  been  thrown  together,  in  close  and 
intimate  relations,  by  the  tie  of  a  common  ambition,  by  fellowship 
in  study,  in  commerce,  or  in  arms.92 

Such  were  the  circumstances  under  which  Sulla  under-    Sulla's 
took   to    restore    order    and    to    rebuild   the   machinery  constltutlon- 
J  of   civil    government,    so   modified   as    to   meet    altered 
i  conditions,    in   a    state   torn   by   class   hatreds   and   dis- 
tracted by  the  passions  of  civil  war.     It  has  been  said 

90  Suetonius,  Caesar,  i ;  Plut.,  Caes.,  i. 

91  The  threat  to  deprive  of  the  franchise  several  communities  which  had 
joined  Cinna  was  not  carried  out.  —  Pro  Domo,  30;  Pro  Caecina,  33,  35. 

92  Ferrero,  vol.  i,  pp.  104,  105. 


120 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Increased 
powers  of 
Senate  re- 
duced those 
of  tribunate. 


Tribune 
ineligible  to 
reelection. 

Senatorial 

guard 

provided. 


that  his  task  involved  not  so  much  the  remaking  of  a 
constitution  as  the  organization  of  a  gigantic  system  of 
police,  necessary  at  that  moment  for  the  preservation 
of  the  Empire  and  the  whole  of  ancient  civiliza- 
tion from  the  destruction  threatened  by  the  desperate 
revolt  of  the  oppressed  thousands  of  Italy  and  Asia. 

In  the  presence  of  such  an  opportunity  Sulla,  instead 
of  aiming  at  the  regeneration  of  the  state  as  a  whole, 
viewed  his  success  simply  as  a  party  triumph  which  he 
attempted  to  secure  by  restoring  and  increasing  the 
powers  of  the  Senate,  reduced  to  almost  a  nullity  by 
recent  revolutions,  and  at  the  same  time  by  diminishing 
the  powers  of  the  tribunate,93  whose  steady  encroachments 
through  centuries  had  made  it  the  most  important  of 
all  magistracies.  In  the  execution  of  that  plan  he  nearly 
doubled,  out  of  the  patrician  order,  the  number  of  the 
senators.  From  that  time  onward  the  Senate  appears 
to  have  embraced  between  five  and  six  hundred  members, 
vacancies  being  supplied  as  before  from  the  retiring  con- 
suls, praetors,  aediles,  and  quaestors.94  Therefore,  ir 
order  to  guard  against  popular  favorites  finding  in  thai 
way  too  easy  a  road  to  the  Senate  through  elections,  it 
was  provided  that  no  one  who  had  been  a  tribune  of  th( 
people  could  thereafter  be  elected  to  any  other  office. 
The  dignity  and  safety  of  the  peers  for  life  thus 
arranged  in  a  single  chamber  he  protected  by  a  guan 
provided  by  the  enfranchisement  of  ten  thousand  slaves 
who  had  been  owned  by  the  families  of  the  pr< 
scribed.96 


93  De  Leg.,  iii,  22:  "Injuriae  faciendae  potestatem  ademit,  auxilii  ferenc 
reliquit."    See  also  Cicero,  In  Verrem,  i,  60. 

94  Cf.  Greenidge,  p.  266. 

95  Pro  Cornel.,  fr.  78 ;  Ascon.,  In  Corn.,  78 ;  App.,  i,  100. 
98  Lange,  R.A.,  vol.  iii,  pp.  144(1. ;  Cantalupi,  M.S.,  pp.  uoff. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  121 

But  more  important  still  was  the  provision  designed 
to  withdraw  from  the  popular  assembly  the  ancient  and 
sovereign  right  to  initiate  and  control  legislation.  So 
long  as  the  citizens  at  the  invitation  of  consul  or  tribune 
could  exercise  such  a  power,  any  changes  the  Dictator 
might  make  could  be  instantly  set  aside.  It  was  there-  No  measure 
fore  ordained  that  no  measure  was  to  be  presented  to  any   tobeP^e" 

r  J     sented  by  a 

assembly  of  the  people  by  a  tribune  without  the  approval  tribune  with- 
of  the  Senate  given  beforehand,  the  power  of  the  college  ria^assent" 
of  tribunes  being  still  further  diminished  by  the  imposi- 
tion of  a  heavy  fine  for  the  abuse  by  a  tribune  of  the 
right  of  intercession.  While  the  tribunes  still  retained 
their  right  of  veto,  a  penalty  was  attached  to  the  abuse 
of  it,  the  Senate  having  even  the  right  to  depose  a 
tribune.97 

In  order  to  prevent  the  people  from  installing  in  office 
a  second  Marius,  seven  times  consul,  it  was  decreed  that   No  consul 
no   one   should   hold  the   consulship   for  two   successive   *°suc"ed 

r  himself. 

years,98  and  further  that  no  one  should  have  the  right 
to  stand  for  the  consulship  who  had  not  previously  held 
the  offices  of  quaestor  and  praetor.99  A  quaestor  must 
be  thirty,  a  praetor  forty,  and  a  consul  forty-three  years 
of  age.  And  in  order  to  render  the  magistrates  still  more 
dependent  on  the  Senate  by  enlarging  their  number  and 
dividing   their   authority,   the   number   of   praetors   was 

t      c  •  •    1      -inn  1        r  Praetors 

increased    from    six    to    eight,  00    and    of    quaestors    to   increased 
twenty.101     The  pontifical  and  augural  colleges  were  also  toeisht» 

*  °  °  quaestors 

placed  in  the  hands  of  the  senatorial  aristocracy  through   to  twenty. 

97  As  to   Sulla's  treatment  of  the  tribunes,  see  Sunden,  De  tribunicia 
potestate  a  L.  Sulla  imminuta  quaestiones,  Upsala,  1897. 

98  App.,  B.  C,  i,  100. 

99  He  thus  legalized  a  custom.    Cf.  Liv.,  xxxii,  7;  App.,  i,  100. 
ion  Pompon.,  De  Orig.  Juris  {Dig.,  i,  2,  2)  ;  Velleius,  H,  89. 

101  Tac,  Ann.,  xi,  22;  Madvig,  Verfassung  und  Verivaltung  des  rotn. 
I  Staates,  vol.  ii,  p.  441. 


122 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Control  of 
criminal  jus- 
tice restored 
to  Senate. 


Cicero's 
tribute  to 
the  equites. 


Assembly 
shorn  of 
legislative 
power. 


a  provision  requiring  vacancies  in  their  ranks  to  be  filled 
by  cooptation  as  before  the  lex  Domitia.102 

But  last,  and  perhaps  most  important  of  all,  the  con- 
trol of  the  administration  of  criminal  justice  (quaestiones 
perpetuae)  was  taken  away  from  the  equestrian  order 
and  restored  to  the  Senate.  So  corrupt  had  the  senators 
become  in  the  discharge  of  their  judicial  functions  that 
Caius  Gracchus  had  disqualified  them  from  sitting  in  the 
law  courts  by  a  provision  requiring  the  judges  to  be  chosen 
thereafter  from  the  equites,  who  had  been  so  exception- 
ally pure  that  on  the  trial  of  Verres  Cicero  challenged 
his  opponents  to  point  out  a  single  instance  in  which 
an  equestrian  court  had  given  a  corrupt  judgment 
during  the  forty  years  in  which  they  had  possessed  the 
privilege.103 

Sulla,  who  never  courted  popular  favor,  abolished  the 
public  distribution  of  corn  whereby  the  city  had  been 
filled  with  idle  vagabonds.  By  breaking  down  the  in- 
fluence of  the  two  new  powers  in  the  state,  the  middle 
class  and  the  equestrian  order,  the  Dictator  hoped  to 
reestablish,  with  slight  modifications,  the  old  aristocratic 
constitution,  existing  at  the  time  of  the  first  Punic  War, 
when  Italian  society  was  distinctively  aristocratic,  agri- 
cultural, and  military.  His  reorganization  of  the  state 
proceeded  on  the  lines  foreshadowed  by  Rutilius  Rufus 
and  his  aristocratic  followers,  whose  program,  with  a 
few  exceptions,  was  put  into  execution.  Thus  the  popu- 
lar party  was  crushed;  and  its  scheme  of  reform,  as 
embodied  in  the  proposals  of  the  Gracchi,  annihilated. 
The  assembly  of  the  people,  shorn  of  its  ancient 
legislative  power,   had  no  excuse  for  meeting  save  on 

102  Dion.  Cass.,  xxxvii,  37;  Liv.,  Epit.,  Ixxxix. 

103  On  the  other  hand,  Appian  says  (De  Bella  Civili,  i,  22)  that  the 
courts  of  the  equites  had  been  more  corrupt  than  the  senatorial  courts. 


THE  ROMAN  CONSTITUTION  123 

special   occasions,    and   then   only   at  the   Senate's   invi- 
tation. 

Who  can  tell  why  it  was  the  proud,  masterful,  cynical 
aristocrat,  with  an  inordinate  love  of  sensual  pleasure, 
brutal  and  yet  without  any  great  depth   of  passion  — 
styled  in  Mommsen's  happy  phrase,  the  "Don  Juan  of 
politics" — should  have  abdicated  his  supreme  office  in  Abdication 
79  B.C.  at  a  moment  when  he  seemed  to  have  nothing  to      Su    » 
fear?    Certain  it  is  that  his  death,  which  occurred  at  the 
beginning  of  the  next  year,  was  followed  by  the  rapid  dis- 
integration of  the  fabric  he  had  so  carefully  constructed. 
Before  the  end  of  ten  years  his  so-called  constitution  had 
broken  down  utterly  in  almost  every  part.     All  that  Sulla 
left  behind  him  was  "the  type  of  the  military  chief  at  All  he  left 
I  the  head  of  a  devoted  army  which  he  controls  by  his   be  ind   Ira 

3  *  was  a  new 

money   and   his   sword."     That   "type   of   the   military   typeofmili- 
chief"  broods  like  an  evil  spirit  over  the  thirty-four  years   tary  e9p° ' 
that  intervene  between  Sulla's  death   and  the   Ides  of 
March  — 

....  critical  years  in  which  Roman  imperialism  definitely  as- 
serted its  sway  over  the  civilized  world ;  when,  by  the  conversion  of 
the  Mediterranean  into  an  Italian  lake,  Italy  entered  upon  her 
:  historic  task  as  intermediary  between  the  Hellenised  East  and  bar- 
barous Europe.104 

Of  the  Roman  constitution  at  this  critical  stage  of  its 
development,  a  consummate  critic  has  said: 

The  Roman  constitution  has  lost  none  of  its  complexity  by    Greenidge's 
growth.     The  accretions  of  age  had  changed  a  curious  but  com-    summary' 
paratively  simple  type  of  polity  into  a  jumble  of  constitutional 
law  and  custom,  through  which  even  the  keen  eye  of  the  Roman 
jurist  could  not  pierce,  and  which  even  his  capacity  for  fictitious 
interpretation  and  invention  of  compromises  could  not  reduce  to 

104  Ferrero,  vol.  i,  pp.  105,  v. 


124  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

a  system.  The  lack  of  logic,  which  is  the  usual  accompaniment 
of  a  conservatism  not  thoroughgoing  enough  to  be  consistent, 
produced  a  machine  the  results  of  which  appeared  for  a  time  to 
be  eminently  satisfactory.  It  conquered  the  world,  and  succeeded 
for  a  time  in  governing  it  with  some  show  of  decency  and  a  fair 
measure  of  success.  Had  the  equilibrium  been  maintained  in 
practice  as  in  theory,  mixed  constitutions  would  have  had  the 
most  assured  claim  to  the  respect  and  acceptance  of  the  world. 
But  as  the  knots  which  the  jurist  could  not  untie  were  cut  by  the 
sword,  and  the  constitution  reverted  to  a  type  far  simpler  even 
than  that  of  its  origin,  we  must  assume  a  weakness  in  the  mixed 
system  which  might  not  have  rendered  it  inadequate  as  the  gov- 
ernment of  a  city-state  or  even  of  Italy,  but  certainly  rendered  it 
incapable  of  imperial  rule.105 

And  yet  no  matter  what  its  faults  may  have  been,  of  the 
unwritten  and  slowly  developed  constitution  of  the  Roman 
Republic  we  may  say  not  only  that  the  people  have  made 
it,  but  that  the  people  have  lived  it,  for  it  is  little  more 
than  their  life  and  history  epitomized. 

105  Greenidge,  p.  146. 


CHAPTER  VI 

CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR 

With  the  foregoing  sketch  of  the  Roman  political 
and  judicial  systems  clearly  in  view  it  will  be  easier  to 
follow  the  career  of  the  well-trained  young  advocate 
who,  in  his  twenty-sixth  year,1  undertook  his  first  re- 
corded case,  the  defense  of  Publius  Quinctius  in  a  civil  Defense  of 
proceeding  before  a  judex  or  referee,  C.  Aquilius,  ap-  Qujn^jus 
pointed  by  the  praetor  urbanus  according  to  the  course   Cicero's  first 

fT»  i         o  recorded 

Koman  law.  case 

In  order  to  facilitate  an  understanding  of  Roman  legal 
procedure  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  say  that  when  a  civil 
suit  was  commenced,  the  litigants  appeared  before  the 
praetor  who  made  a  preliminary  examination  in  order 
to   ascertain  the  precise   points   in   controversy.      After 
hearing  the  statements  and  counterstatements  of  plaintiff 
and  defendant,  he  constructed  a  brief  technical  outline  of 
the  disputed  issues,  called  a  formula.     That  formula  was   Formula 
then  put  into  the  hands  of  a  judex  (more  like  a  referee    and}udex- 
or  a  jury  of  one  than  a  modern  presiding  judge),  who, 
after  hearing  the  evidence  of  the  witnesses  and  the  argu- 
ments of  the  advocates,  returned  his  decisive  judgment  to. 
the  praetor  who  appointed  him. 

The  entire  proceeding  thus  carried  on  by  the  praetor, 
judex,3  and  advocates  was  under  the  intellectual  guidance   Jurisconsults 
of  the  jurisconsults,  the  makers  of  the  scientific  law  lit-   tuaTuidT* 
erature  of  Rome,  who  were  regarded  as  law  experts, 

1  Gell.,  xv,  28. 

2  F.  L.  Keller,  Semestria,  i,  I. 

3  As  to  the  "Theory  of  Civil  Procedure  at  Rome;  the  Magistrate  and 
the  Judex,"  see  Greenidge,  The  Legal  Procedure  of  Cicero's  Time,  pp.  15-47. 

125 


126  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

and  respected  and  resorted  to  as  such  by  all  concerned  in 
the  administration  of  justice.     Primarily,  the  praetor  was 
a  great  statesman  or  politician  whose  final  function  was 
to  enforce  the  law;  the  judex,  or  as  we  should  now  call 
him,  the  referee,  might  have  no  technical  knowledge  of 
law  whatever.4     Under   such   conditions   the   unlearned 
judicial  magistrates  naturally  looked  for  light  and  lead- 
ing to  the  jurisconsults  who  instructed  them  through  their 
Responsa        responsa  prudentium,  the  technical  name  given  to  their 
prudenhum.     0pjnions  as  experts,  which  were  promptly  recorded  on 
tablets  by  their  students  or  disciples.     We  know  enough 
of  the  part  played  by  Cicero  in  the  proceeding  before 
the  judex,  or  referee,  in  the  case  in  question,  to  say  that 
induced  to      he  was  induced  to  appear  in  it  by  no  less  a  person  than 
appear  by  the  ^     advocate's  instructor  in  elocution,  the  famous  actor 

actor  Roscius. 

Roscius,  the  brother-in-law  of  the  defendant  Publius  Quinc- 
tius, who  was  the  heir  of  his  brother  Caius  Quinctius. 
Caius  had  died  in  the  Roman  province  in  southern  France, 
with    debts    remaining   of   obligations    payable    to    one 
Naevius,  with  whom  he  was  jointly  possessed  of  certain 
lands  in  the  province  mentioned.     Naevius  had  promptly 
secured  in  the  time  of  Cinna  a  judgment  from  the  praetoi 
Burrienus  giving  him  the  estate  of  the  absent  Quinctius. 
In  the  preliminary  case  in  question  (causa  praejudicialis^ 
the  main  point  in  controversy  (™  Kpivofievov)  was  whethei 
Quinctius  must  give  security  guaranteeing  the  payment  o: 
the  judgment  in  the  main  case  in  the  event  he  should  b( 
the  loser. 

Cicero,  who  had  as  an  antagonist  the  great  advocate 

Hortensras.     Hortensius,  complained  that  although  he  was   for  the 

defendant  he  was  forced  to   plead  first.      In   ridiculing 

certain  statements  made  by  the  other  side  as  to  the  swift- 

*  Cf .  the  author's  Science  of  Jurisprudence,  pp.  89  sq. 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR 


127 


ness  with  which  the  praetor's  decree  had  been  carried 
from  Rome  to  southern  France,  Cicero  said: 

What  an  incredible  thing!     What  inconsiderate  greed!    What    Extracts 
a  winged  messenger!     The  aids  and  satellites  leave  Rome,  cross    from  Cicero's 
the  Alps,  and  arrive  in  this  country  of  the  Segusiavi  in  two  days. 
What  a  fortunate  man  is  he  who  has  such  fleet  messengers  or 
rather  Pegasuses! 

It  was  in  this  speech  that  he  said: 

If  fortune  or  another's  crime  has  deprived  us  of  our  wealth, 
yet  so  long  as  our  reputation  is  untarnished,  our  character  will 

console  us  for  our  poverty No  honest  man  desires  to  cause 

the  death  of  a  fellow-man,  even  by  lawful  means;  he  prefers 
always  to  remember  that,  when  he  could  have  destroyed,  he 
spared,  rather  than  that  when  he  could  have  spared,  he  destroyed. 

In  his  twenty-seventh  year,  about  the  age  at  which 
Demosthenes  made  his  beginning  as  a  public  prosecutor, 
Cicero  appeared  in  the  Forum  for  the  first  time  in  a 
public  or  state  trial  for  life  and  death  under  the  criminal 
law,  before  a  tribunal  whose  procedure  was  utterly  unlike 
that  of  the  praetor  urbanus  in  the  civil  proceeding  against 
Quinctius.  In  the  sketch  heretofore  drawn  of  the  Roman 
constitution  an  attempt  was  made  to  indicate  the  nature 
of  the  criminal  courts  constituted  by  the  king,  such  as 
the  duumviri  perduellionis  and  the  quaestores  parricidii, 
composed  of  delegates  or  commissioners  (quaestores)  ap- 
pointed at  first  for  particular  cases,  and  afterward  for 
particular  classes  of  cases.     The  king  — 

....  specified  the  crime  under  which  the  accused  was  to  be 
tried,  and  the  penalty  to  be  inflicted,  but  left  the  finding  of  the 
facts  to  his  delegates.  Two  such  classes  of  delegates  are  attrib- 
uted to  the  regal  period,  the  duumvirii  perduellionis  and  the 
•  quaestores  parricidii? 

5  Greenidge,  Roman  Public  Life,  p.  63,  citing  "Liv.,  i,  26;  Zonaras,  vii, 
....  Mommsen    (Staatsr.,  vol.   ii,   pp.    523   sq.)    thinks   the   financial 


Roman  crim- 
inal courts. 

Duumviri 
perduelli- 
onis and 
quaestores 
parricidii. 


128 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Quaestiones 
perpetuae. 


Foundations 
of  Roman 
criminal 
law  laid  in 
149  B.C. 


Personnel 
of  the 
permanent 
commissions. 


There  was  a  great  lack  of  criminal  courts  at  Rome 
before  the  institution  of  the  quaestiones  perpetuae.®     The 
series  of  statutes  by  which  they  were  instituted  for  the 
trial  of  particular  classes  of  crimes  wherever  committed, 
beginning  with  the  lex  Calpurnia  de  Repetundis,  149  B.C., 
continued  until  a  number  of  courses  of  conduct  had  been 
from  time  to  time  branded  as  criminal.7     Each  standing 
commission  was  established  by  a  special  law,8  and  con- 
sisted of  a  praetor  chosen  annually,  assisted  at  times  by 
as  many  as  100  judices,  who  were  summoned  for  each 
particular  case.    The  foundations  of  Roman  criminal  law 
were  really  laid  when  the  judicial  procedure,  first  estab- 
lished in  149  B.C.  for  the  trial  of  cases  of  magisteria 
extortion  in  the  provinces,  and  applied  between  149  B.C. 
and  81  B.C.  to  cases  of  treason  and  bribery,  was  so  ex- 
tended by  Sulla  as  to  bring  under  it  the  chief  crimina 
offenses.9     Reference  has  been  made  already  to  the  move 
of  Caius  Gracchus  to  take  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Senate 
the  control  of  the  freshly  established  court  for  the  tria 
of  cases  of  magisterial  misgovernment  in  the  provinces.10 
These   permanent  commissions    (questiones  perpetuae), 
with  jurisdiction  over  crimes  of  a  political  nature,  were 
in  future  to  be  composed  of  knights  instead  of  senators. 
After  that  great  power  of  control  of  the  criminal  courts 

quaestors  as  standing  officials  originated  with  the  Republic;  but  he  be- 
lieves (p.  539)  that  they  had  their  origin  in  the  criminal  quaestor es  (a 
word  which  bears  the  same  relation  to  quaesitores  as  sartor  to  sarcitor  or 
quaero  to  quaeswi,  p.  537).  Cf.  Tac,  Ann.,  xi,  22  (p.  81)  ;  Ulpian  in 
Dig.,  i,  13." 

6  See  above,  p.  94. 

7  Cf.  Maine,  ch.  v. 

8  Greenidge,  The  Legal  Procedure  of  Cicero's  Time,  p.  417. 

9  Cf.  Mommsen,  vol.  ii,  p.  359;  Rein,  Criminal-Recht;  Zumpt,  Criminal- 
Prozess  d.  Romer. 

10  The  creation  of  the  standing  criminal  courts  (quaestiones  perpetuae), 
with  their  presidents  and  juries,  was  the  reaction  of  the  provinces  on 
Rome.  —  Greenidge,  p.  183. 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR  129 

had  remained  in  the  equestrian  order  for  more  than 
forty  years,  it  was  taken  away  by  Sulla  and  restored  to 
the  Senate.11  It  is  a  false  and  misleading  analogy  to 
speak  of  the  judices,  the  judges,  who  composed  these 
selected  popular  assemblies,  whether  consisting  of  sena- 
tors or  equites,  and  numbering  at  times  100,  as  jurors. 
It  is  far  more  accurate  to  say  that  such  a  court  was  like 
that  of  the  lord  high  steward  when  he  had  the  right  to 
constitute  his  court  for  the  trial  of  a  peer  by  summoning 
only  such  members  of  the  peerage  as  he  might  see  fit  to 
select. 

Such  was  the  nature  of  the  criminal  court  composed  of 
judices  taken  from  the  senatorial  aristocracy  before  which 
Cicero  appeared  in  the  year  80  B.C.,  when  he  undertook   Cicero's 
to  defend  Sextus  Roscius  of  Ameria,  who  was  accused   ^efenseof 

1  Koscius 

of  murdering  his  father,  a  man  of  considerable  wealth,    of  Ameria. 
struck  down  at  night  near  the  Palatine  baths  during  a 
short  stay  at  Rome.     The  son  was  at  home,  fifty-six 
miles  away,  at  the  time,  and  there  was  not  a  particle  of 
proof  that  he  had  ever  seen  or  communicated  with  the 
I  assassins  who  were  really  unknown.     There  was  nothing 
tbut  suspicion,  such  as  it  was,  that  rested  upon  the  sug- 
gestion that  the  father  disliked  the  son,  and  that  he  had 
jonce  threatened  to  disinherit  him.     The  probabilities  all 
pointed  to  hostile  relatives  living  at  Ameria,  to  one  of 
whom,  Titus  Roscius  Capito,  news  of  the  tragedy  was 
brought  by  one  of  his   freedmen  at  daylight  the  next 
morning. 

It  seems  to  be  clear  that  the  assassination  was  planned   chrysogo- 
and  executed  by  those  kinsmen  under  some  pact  with    nus'f 

r»i  1  r  •  /•  1  »     „    ..  freedrui 

^nrysogonus,    the    favorite    freedman    of   Sulla,    under   ofSulla 

11  On  repetundarum    (trials  and  statutes),  see  Mommsen,  Strafrecht, 
)p.  707  sq. 


avorite 
man 


130 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Hireling  sep- 
arated from 
the  master. 


Awoke  and 
found  him- 
self famous. 


which  he  was  to  share  with  them  in  the  estate  of  the 
murdered  man.  A  necessary  part  of  the  plot  was  to 
remove  the  heir  by  charging  him  with  parricide.  The 
danger  lay,  not  in  the  nature  of  the  flimsy  accusation,  but 
in  the  character  of  the  prosecutor  and  of  the  tribunal, 
dominated  as  it  was  by  Sulla's  partisans  and  friends. 

Under  such  circumstances,  when  a  severe  sentence 
might  add  to  the  prestige  of  the  freshly  organized  courts, 
Cicero  deemed  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  do  his  utmost 
to  establish  the  innocence  of  his  client  and  to  expose 
Chrysogonus  without  attaching  blame  to  Sulla  in  any 
way.  In  separating  the  hireling  from  the  master  he 
said: 

All  these  things,  O  judges,  I  surely  know  are  done  without 
the  knowledge  of  L.  Sulla,  and  no  wonder,  since  he  at  the  same 
time  both  remedies  what  has  gone  by,  and  organizes  those  things 
which  seem  to  be  on  the  threshold  of  the  future,  when  he  alone 
has  the  power  of  settling  the  system  of  peace  and  of  waging  wars; 
when  everyone  looks  to  him  only,  when  he  alone  directs  every- 
thing. When  he  is  distracted  with  so  many  and  so  great  affairs 
that  he  cannot  breathe  freely,  (it  is  no  wonder  then)  if  there  be 
something  which  escapes  his  attention,  particularly  when  so  many 
men  watch  his  engagements  and  seize  the  opportunity  like  bird- 
catchers,  so  that  the  moment  he  has  looked  away,  they  plot  some- 
thing of  this  kind. 


In  this  speech  he  said: 


Solon,  when  asked  why  he  had  not  appointed  any  penalty  for 
parricide,  replied  that  he  had  not  thought  any  man  capable  of  the 
crime. 

The  court  was  not  convinced  that  there  had  been  any 
exception  to  that  rule  in  this  case.  The  rising  young 
advocate,  by  winning  a  victory  that  reminds  us  of 
Erskine's  triumph  in  Hatfield's  case,  cleared  the  reputa- 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR  131 

tion  of  his  injured  client,  and  recovered  his  property 
for  him.  He  awoke  and  found  himself  famous !  As  he 
tells  us  himself  in  his  later  years, 

My  defense  of  Sextus  Roscius,  which  was  the  first  cause  I  pleaded, 
met  with  such  a  favourable  reception  that,  from  that  moment,  I 
was  looked  upon  as  an  advocate  of  the  first  class,  and  equal  to  the 
greatest  and  most  important  causes ;  and  after  this  I  pleaded  many 
others,  which  I  pre-composed  with  all  the  care  and  accuracy  of 
which  I  was  master.12 

The  two  cases  in  which  Cicero  began  his  career  as  a   First  two 
member  of  the  Roman  bar  have  been  thus  emphasized,   casesiraPor- 

r  tant  because 

not  so  much  on  account  of  their  intrinsic  importance  as  theyillus- 
by  reason  of  the  line  they  draw  between  the  constitutions    ^ivn  and 
of  the  civil  and  criminal  tribunals,  the  scenes  of  all  his   criminal 
earlier  triumphs.     His  extant  orations  were  addressed 
either  to  the  courts,  consisting  of  one  or  more  members 
intrusted  with  the   administration   of  the   laws;  to   the 
Senate;  or  to  the  whole  body  of  the  people  convoked  in 
their  public  assemblies.     It  will  therefore  be  convenient   Catalogue 
to  catalogue  all   (except  fragments)   that  belong  to  the   °fsPeeches 
first  class,  because  they  alone  are  relevant  to  this  branch   courts, 
of  the  subject. 

B.C.    81.     Pro   P.    Quinctio:     Defense   of   Quinctius  Pro  p.  Quinctio. 
before  a  judex  in  a  suit  by  Sex.    Naevius  to  recover  the  8lBC- 
profits  of  a  partnership  in  certain  lands  in  Gaul,  inher- 
ited from  his  brother  C.  Quinctius. 12a 

B.C.  80.    Pro  Sex.  Roscio  Amerino:    Defense  of  Ros-  ProRoscio 
cius  on  a  charge  of  parricide  presented  by  Erucius  as   g0"^c*"0' 
professional  prosecutor,   at  the   instigation  of   Chryso- 
gonus. 

12  Brut,  xc. 

12a  For  elaborate  examinations  of  Cicero's  speeches  for  Quinctius,  Roscius 
1  the  actor,  Tullius,  and  Caecina,  see  Greenidge,  The  Legal  Procedure  of 
Cicero's  Time,  Appendix  ii,  pp.  531-68. 


132 

Pro  Roscio 
Comoedo, 
76  (  ?)  B.C. 


Pro 

M.  Tullio, 
72  (or  71)  B.C. 

In  Cae- 
cilium,  70  B.C. 


In  C.  V  err  em, 
six  orations, 
70  B.C. 


Pro 

M.  Fonteio, 
69  B.C. 

Pro 

A.  Caecina, 
69  B.C. 


Pro 

A.   Cluentio 
Habit  0 
66  B.C. 


Pro 

C.  Rabirio, 

63  B.C. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

B.C.  76  (?).  Pro  Q.  Roscio  Comoedo:  Defense  of 
Roscius  the  actor  against  the  claim  of  C.  Fannius  Chaerea 
to  half  the  profits  of  certain  lands  taken  as  the  value  of  a 
slave  owned  in  partnership,  and  killed  by  C.  Flavius. 

B.C.  72  (or  71).  Pro  M.  Tullio:  Suit  for  damages 
for  an  assault  made  by  a  rival  claimant  on  the  estate  of 
Tullius. 

B.C.  70.  In  Caecilium  ("Divinatio")  :  Preliminary 
argument  on  the  technical  right  of  Cicero  to  conduct  the 
prosecution  against  Verres. 

B.C.  70.  In  C.  Verrem:  Prosecuted  for  oppression 
and  plunder  in  Sicily.  Six  orations.  (1)  The  general 
charge  ("Actio  Prima");  (2)  De  Praetura  Urbana; 
earlier  political  crimes  of  Verres;  (3)  De  Jurisdictione 
Siciliana:  his  Sicilian  administration;  (4)  De  Frumento: 
fraud  and  peculation  as  to  supplies  of  grain;  (5)  De 
Signis:  the  taking  of  works  of  art;  (6)  De  Suppliciis: 
cruelties  of  his  government. 

B.C.  69.  Pro  M.  Fonteio:  Defense  of  Fonteius,  ac- 
cused of  extortion  and  corruption  in  Gaul  during  Pom- 
pey's  campaign  against  Sertorius,  about  B.C.  75. 

B.C.  69.  Pro  A.  Caecina:  Defense  against  Aebutius 
of  the  right  of  Caecina  to  an  estate  inherited  from  his 
wife  Caesennia,  widow  of  M.  Fulcinus,  a  rich  money 
lender. 

B.C.  66.  Pro  A.  Cluentio  Habito:  Defense  of 
Cluentius,  charged  with  the  murder  by  poisoning  of 
his  stepfather  Oppianicus,  brought  by  the  younger 
Oppianicus,  instigated  by  Sassia,  the  mother  of  Cluen- 
tius. 

B.C.  63.  Pro  C.  Rabirio:  Defense  of  Rabirius, 
charged  with  treason  (perduellio),  the  act  having  been 
committed  thirty-seven  years  before. 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR  133 

B.C.    63.      Pro   L.   Murena:      Defense    of    Murena,  Pro 
charged  by  the  defeated  candidate,  Sulpicius,  with  bribery  7*     urena> 
and  corruption  in  obtaining  the  consular  office. 

B.C.  62.     Pro  P.  Cornelio  Sulla:     Defense  of  Sulla,  ProP.Cor- 
charged  with  sharing  in  Catiline's  conspiracy.  ^bc  " 

B.C.   62.     Pro   A.   Licinio   Archia:      Defense   of   the 
poet's  claim  to  citizenship  acquired  under  the  regulations   Pro  Archia, 
exacted  in  consequence  of  the  Italian  war.  62B.C. 

B.C.  59.     Pro  L.  Valerio  Flacco:     Defense  of  Flaccus  Pro  Flacco, 
against  a  charge  of  misgovernment  as  propraetor  of  Asia.    59 BC' 

B.C.  57.     Pro  Domo  Sua:     While  this  was  simply  an   Pro Domo 
appeal  to  the  pontifices  for  a  restoration  of  that  part  of  Sua>S7B'c- 
his  estate  alienated  by  Clodius,  it  may  fairly  be  classed 
among  his  forensic  efforts,  although  he  was  his  own  client. 

B.C.  56.     Pro  Sestio:     Defense  of  Cicero's  partisan,   ProSestio, 
Sestius,  charged  with  assault,  the  attack  having  been  made    56bc- 
on  him  by  the  partisans  of  Clodius. 

B.C.  56.     In  P.  Vatinum    ("Interrogatio")  :     A  per-  inP.Vati- 
sonal  attack  on  Vatinius,  one  of  the  chief  witnesses  who    num>$e*-c- 
appeared  against  Cicero's  client  Sestius. 

B.C.  56.     Pro  M.  Caelio:    Defense  of  Caelius,  a  dis-  Pro 
solute  young  member  of  the  higher  society  of  Rome,  who       ' Caelt0* 
was  accused  by  Atratinus  with  plotting  against  the  life 
of  the   lady   Clodia   and  with  keeping   a   sum   of  gold 
belonging  to  her. 

B.C.  56.     Pro  Cornelio  Balbo:    Defense  of  Balbus,  a  Pro  Cornelio 
native  of  Spain   (Phoenician  Gades),  charged  with  the  Balbo> s6bc- 
illegal   assumption   and  use   of   the   Roman   franchises, 
derived  from  a  sweeping  decree  made  by  Pompey  in 
72  B.C. 

B.C.    54.     Pro    Cn.    Plancio:      Defense   of   Plancius  ProPlancio, 
(who,   when   quaestor  of   Macedon,    58   B.C.,   had  be-   54B,C# 
friended  Cicero),  charged  by  M.  Junius  Laterensis,  the 


134 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Pro  C.  Rabi- 
rio  Postumo, 
54  B.C. 


Pro  Milone, 
52  B.C. 


Pro  Ligario, 
46  B.C. 


Pro  Rege 
Deiotaro, 
45  B.C. 


Basis  of  Cice- 
ro's fame  as 
an  advocate. 


defeated    candidate    for    aedile,    with    corrupt   political 
bargaining. 

B.C.  54.  Pro  C.  Rabirio  Postumo:  Defense  of  Ra- 
birius,  an  equestrian  speculator  and  promoter,  in  a  pro- 
ceeding to  recover  money  said  to  have  been  received 
from  Ptolemy  Aulates,  king  of  Egypt,  in  corrupt  part- 
nership with  Gabinius. 

B.C.  52.  Pro  T.  Annio  Milone:  Defense  of  Milo, 
charged  with  the  murder  of  Clodius.  The  indictment 
was  for  three  distinct  offenses:  de  vi,  de  sodaliciis,  and 
de  ambitu. 

B.C.  46.  Pro  Q.  Ligario:  An  appeal  to  Caesar  to 
pardon  Q.  Ligarius,  made  in  Caesar's  official  residence, 
the  Regia,  on  the  Forum.  The  charge  was  that  Ligarius 
had  conducted  the  war  in  Africa  against  Caesar.  Plutarch 
tells  us  that  when  "the  orator  touched  upon  the  battle  of 
Pharsalia,  he  (Caesar)  was  so  affected  that  his  body 
trembled,  and  some  of  the  papers  he  held  dropped  from 
his  hands,  and  thus  he  was  overpowered,  and  acquitted 
Ligarius."  13 

B.C.  45.  Pro  Rege  Deiotaro:  Defense  of  Deiotarus, 
king  of  Galatia,  accused  of  an  attempt  to  murder  Caesar, 
when  he  was  his  guest  during  his  stay  in  Armenia.  This, 
the  last  case  Cicero  ever  pleaded,  was  also  heard  before 
Caesar  himself  in  the  Pontifical  Palace  at  Rome.  Before 
Caesar  concluded  the  inquiry  the  daggers  of  his  enemies 
struck  him  down.14 

Upon  his  speeches  in  the  foregoing  cases,  which  sur- 
vive in  a  more  or  less  perfect  form,  Cicero's  fame  as  an 
advocate  really  depends.  Just  after  his  defense  of  Ros- 
cius  of  Ameria,  having  matched  his  forensic  powers  with 

13  In  the  preparation  of  this  list  I  have  been  assisted  by  the  helpful  little 
book  of  Allen  and  Greenough,  entitled  Six  Orations  of  Cicero. . 

14  O.  E.  Schmidt,  p.  362. 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR 


135 


some  of  the  foremost  advocates  of  the  time,  he  made 
his  tour  abroad  for  the  restoration  of  his  health  and  for 
the  widening  of  his  culture,  of  which  mention  has  been 
made  already.15  After  his  return  with  health  reestab- 
lished, he  reappeared  in  the  courts  in  defense  of  the  Defense  of 
actor  Roscius  —  whose  case  probably  occurred  about  the  R0SCius# 
year  76  B.C.16  —  a  civil  suit  arising  out  of  a  demand  of 
Fannius  that  the  praetor  should  order  that  the  accounts 
between  him  and  Roscius,  as  to  the  profits  of  certain  land 
taken  as  the  value  of  a  slave  held  by  them  in  partnership, 
and  killed  by  Flavius,  be  submitted  to  arbitration. 

The  exordium  and  conclusion  of  this  speech  on  the 
law  of  partnership  (Societas)  are  lost.  Cicero  ingeni- 
ously contended  that  Roscius  had  long  before  settled  for 
himself  alone  with  the  slayer  of  the  actor's  slave,  and  was 
not  therefore  legally  liable  to  share  his  indemnity  with 
the  original  owner  of  the  slave,  "a  delicate  point  of  law 
and  equity."  In  ridiculing  the  appearance  of  Fannius 
he  said: 


A  bit  of 
ridicule. 


Do  not  the  very  pate  and  eyebrows  closely  shaven  seem  to  be 
redolent  of  meanness  and  proclaim  his  cunning?  Does  he  not 
from  the  very  nails  of  his  toes  to  the  crown  of  his  head,  if  the 
speechless  physical  person  affords  any  inference  to  men,  seem  to 
consist  wholly  of  cheating,  of  tricks,  of  lies,  who  has  his  head  and 
eyebrows  always  shaven  for  this  reason,  that  he  might  not  be  said 
to  own  as  much  as  a  hair  of  a  good  man.17 

He  then  drew  a  picture  of  his  own  client,  saying: 

Has  Roscius  defrauded  his  partner?     Can  such  an  imputation    Word  picture 
rest  upon  one  who  has  in  him  —  I  can  say  it  boldly  —  more  hon-    °*  Roscius. 
esty  than  he  has  art;  more  truth  than  accomplishments;  whom 
the  Roman  people  consider  to  be  a  better  man  than  he  is  actor; 

15  See  above,  p.  65. 

18  Cf.  Drumann,  vol.  v,  pp.  346  sq.,  who  assigns  an  earlier  date. 

17  Cicero,  Pro  Roscio  Comoedo,  7. 


136  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

who,  though  admirably  fitted  to  the  stage  on  account  of  his  skill 
in  his  profession,  yet  is  most  worthy  of  being  a  senator  on  account 
of  his  modesty  and  decorum  ? 18 

After  that  double  appeal  to  the  irrelevant  it  was  very 
proper  for  Cicero  to  say  that  "the  masses  are  so  consti- 
tuted that  they  measure  but  few  things  by  the  standard 
of  fact,  most  by  the  standard  of  conjecture." 

Let  us  now  turn  from  the  case  of  Roscius,  notable  only 
for  its  bitter  gibes  and  quibbling  technicalities,  to  a  real 
cause  celebre  that  fixed  the  forensic  fame  of  Cicero  for- 
Prosecution  ever.  Caius  Verres,  ex-governor  of  Sicily,  had  for  three 
years,  73—71  B.C.,  plundered  and  enslaved  Rome's  oldest 
province  through  a  series  of  illegalities  and  barbarities 
that  had  put  to  the  blush  even  her  province-robbing  oli- 
garchy. A  nature  keenly  avaricious,  not  only  for  gold 
but  for  works  of  art,  was  over-tempted  by  the  wealth  of 
a  land  which  was  not  only  the  granary  of  Rome  but  a 
Sicilyatreas-  treasure  house  to  which  had  been  transferred  from  the 
"oldandart  m°ther-country  the  most  exquisite  specimens  of  Greek 
art  —  bronzes  bearing  the  name  of  Corinth,  an  Eros  of 
Praxiteles,  a  Hercules  by  Myron,  an  original  work  of  , 
Boethos,19  reliefs  of  embossed  silver,  cameos,  and  intag- 
lios, plastic  works  in  bronze,  marble,  or  ivory,  paintings, 
and  textile  delineations,  comparable  even  to  the  arras  o: 
later  times. 

With  an  itching  palm  for  gold  and  with  an  obsession 
for  works  of  art  that  amounted  to  a  disease,  Verres, 
armed  with  almost  irresistible  power  over  the  lives  and 
fortunes  of  the  provincials,  indulged  for  three  years  in 
a  bacchanalian  revel  of  plunder,  punctuated  by  a  bru- 

18  Pro  Roscio  Com.,  6. 

19  Overbeck,  Gesch.  d.  Griech.  Plastik,  vol.  ii,  2d  ed.,  pp.  126-29;  Sihler, 
pp.  79-83. 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR 


137 


tality  that  shrank  from  no  crime,  and  by  a  lust  that  con- 
tinually insulted  the  honor  of  the  proudest  of  the  Sicilian 
families.  One  engine  of  his  tyranny  was  a  dark  and 
dreadful  dungeon  at  Syracuse  into  which  he  cast  even 
Roman  citizens  who  were  held  there  in  chains  until  stran- 
gled by  his  orders.  When  one  of  these  victims  named 
Gavius,  who  escaped  and  fled  to  Syracuse,  threatened  to 
go  to  Rome  in  order  to  impeach  Verres,  the  tyrant 
ordered  the  magistrates  first  to  flog  and  then  to  crucify 
him.  When  during  the  first  ordeal  he  uttered  the  cry, 
Civis  Romanus  sum,  in  the  hope  that  those  magic  words 
would  save  him,  Verres  ordered  that  he  should  be  cruci- 
fied on  a  headland  so  that  he  who  called  himself  a  Roman 
citizen  might  die  while  looking  toward  his  native  land. 
Infuriated  by  such  oppressions,  the  plundered  com- 
munities of  Sicily,  the  moment  the  intimidation  of  his 
official  tyranny  was  removed,  rose  as  one  man  and  de- 
manded, early  in  the  year  70  B.C.,  that  Verres  should  be 
brought  to  justice  through  an  impeachment  at  Rome,  and 
tried  by  his  peers.  In  spite  of  his  efforts  for  delay,  sup- 
ported by  powerful  friends,  the  proceeding  moved  swiftly. 
The  praetor  urbanus,  who  subsequently  presided  at  the 
trial,  promptly  drew  by  lot  a  special  and  stated  court 
(questio  perpetua),  composed  entirely  of  senators,  many 
of  whom  were  members  of  the  oldest  of  the  Roman 
families.  When  on  August  5,  with  the  capital  still  full 
of  citizens  from  a  distance  who  had  attended  the  elec- 
tions, the  court  met  in  the  Temple  of  Castor,  under  the 
presidency  of  the  praetor  urbanus,  M.  Acilius  Glabrio, 
(Rome  was  the  scene  of  such  a  state  trial  as  the  ancient 
world  had  never  witnessed  before. 

From  the  foot  of  Mount  Taurus,  from  the  shores  of  the  Black 
|Sea,    from   many   cities   of   the   Grecian    mainland,    from    many 


Dungeon  at 
Syracuse. 


Crucifixion 
of  Gavius. 


Verres  im- 
peached at 
Rome,  70  B.C. 


Court  com- 
posed entire- 
ly of  senators. 


A  pen- 
picture  of 
the  trial 
of  Verres. 


138 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


A  companion 
picture,  trial 
of  Hastings, 
the  English 
Verres. 


islands  of  the  Aegean,  from  every  city  or  market  town  of  Sicily, 
deputations  thronged  Rome.  In  the  porticos  and  on  the  steps  of 
the  temple,  in  the  area  of  the  Forum,  in  the  colonnades  that  sur- 
rounded it,  on  the  housetops  and  on  the  overlooking  declivities, 
were  stationed  dense  and  eager  crowds  of  impoverished  heirs  and 
their  guardians,  bankrupt  publicans  and  corn  merchants,  fathers 
bewailing  their  children  carried  off  to  the  praetor's  harem,  chil- 
dren mourning  for  their  parents  dead  in  the  praetor's  dungeons, 
a  multitude  swelled  by  thousands  of  spectators  from  Italy,  partly 
attracted  by  the  approaching  games,  and  partly  by  curiosity  to 
behold  a  criminal  who  had  scourged  and  crucified  Roman  citizens, 
who  had  respected  neither  local  nor  national  shrines,  and  who 
boasted  that  wealth  would  yet  rescue  the  murderer,  the  violator, 
and  the  temple-robber  from  the  hand  of  man  and  from  the 
Nemesis  of  the  Gods.20 

After  the  curtain  fell  upon  that  memorable  scene  it 
was  never  lifted  upon  its  real  counterpart  until  after  the 
lapse  of  eighteen  centuries  when  the  patrician  senators 
of  another  expanding  empire  met  at  Westminster  in  the 
ancient  hall  of  William  Rufus  to  sit  in  judgment  upon 
an  ex-governor  of  the  province  of  India,  accused  of  the 
grossest  tyrannies  and  robberies  committed  while  ruling 
a  helpless  Oriental  people  with  more  than  regal  power. 
The  place  in  which  that  court  sat  was  worthy  of  such  a 
trial  — 

....  the  hall  which  had  resounded  with  acclamations  at  the 
inauguration  of  thirty  kings,  the  hall  which  had  witnessed  the 
just  sentence  of  Bacon  and  the  just  absolution  of  Somers,  the  hall 
where  the  eloquence  of  Strafford  had  for  a  moment  awed  and 
melted  a  victorious  party  inflamed  with  just  resentment,  the  hall 
where  Charles  had  confronted  the  High  Court  of  Justice  with 

the  placid  courage  which  has  half  redeemed  his  fame The 

judges  in  their  vestments  of  state  attended  to  give  advice  on 
points  of  law.  Near  a  hundred  and  seventy  lords,  three-fourths 
of  the  Upper  House,  as  the  Upper  House  then  was,  walked  in 

20  Art.  "Verres"  in  Smith's  Greek  and  Roman  Biography. 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR 


139 


solemn  order  from  their  usual  place  of  assembling  to  the  tribunal. 
....  The  gray  old  walls  were  hung  in  scarlet.  The  long  gal- 
leries were  crowded  by  an  audience  such  as  has  rarely  excited 
the  fears  or  the  emulations  of  an  orator. 

There  were  gathered  together,  from  all  parts  of  a  great,  free, 
enlightened,  and  prosperous  empire,  grace  and  female  loveliness, 
wit  and  learning,  the  representatives  of  every  science  and  of  every 
art.  There  were  seated  round  the  Queen  the  fair-haired  young 
daughters  of  the  House  of  Brunswick.  There  the  Ambassadors 
of  great  Kings  and  Commonwealths  gazed  with  admiration  on 
a  spectacle  which  no  other  country  in  the  world  could  present. 
There  Siddons,  in  the  prime  of  her  majestic  beauty,  looked  with 
emotion  on  a  scene  surpassing  all  the  imitations  of  the  stage. 

There  the  historian  of  the  Roman  Empire  thought  of  the  days 
when  Cicero  pleaded  the  cause  of  Sicily  against  Verres,  and 
when,  before  a  senate  which  still  retained  some  show  of  freedom, 
Tacitus  thundered  against  the  oppressor  of  Africa.21 

To  such  a  court,  sitting  in  such  a  place,  and  surrounded 
by  such  an  audience,  the  people  of  the  British  Empire, 
speaking  in  their  corporate  person  through  their  ancient    Commons 
popular  assembly,  the  House  of  Commons,  acting  as  a    -^""f^e 
grand  jury  of  the  whole   realm,   presented  articles  of    whole  realm, 
impeachment  against  the  English  Verres,  Warren  Hast- 
ings.    After  the  charges  had  been  read  the  spokesman 
of  the  commons,  raising  his  voice  until  the  old  arches 
of  Irish  oak  trembled,  said: 

Therefore  hath  it  with  all  confidence  been  ordained,  by  the    Burke's 

commons  of  Great  Britain,  that  I  impeach  Warren  Hastings  of      urninS 

.  ,    1  •       •  r    denunciation, 

high  crimes  and  misdemeanors.     I  impeach  him  in  the  name  of 

the  Commons'  House  of  Parliament,  whose  trust  he  has  betrayed. 

I  impeach  him  in  the  name  of  the  English  nation,  whose  ancient 

honor  he  has  sullied.    I  impeach  him  in  the  name  of  the  people  of 

India,  whose  rights  he  has  trodden  under  foot,  and  whose  country 

he  has  turned  into  a  desert.     Lastly,  in  the  name  of  human  nature 


21  Macaulay's  Essays,  vol.  ii,  pp.  641-45,  "Warren  Hastings.1 


140 


Impeachment 
managers. 


Burke, 
Fox,  and 
Sheridan. 


Acquittal 
of  Hastings. 


Roman  law 
provided 
no  official 
prosecutor. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

itself,  in  the  name  of  both  sexes,  in  the  name  of  every  age,  in  the 
name  of  every  rank,  I  impeach  the  common  enemy  and  oppressor 
of  all! 

For  the  trial  of  such  charges  the  English  constitution 
provided  not  only  a  special  and  stated  senatorial  tribunal 
(quaestio  perpetua)  composed  of  the  peers  convened  as 
a  court  of  impeachment,  but  it  also  provided  for  an 
official  body  of  prosecutors,  the  managers  of  the  im- 
peachment appointed  by  the  House  of  Commons.  At 
the  head  of  that  body  there  stood  such  a  triumvirate  of 
orators  as  the  world  had  never  heard  before  at  the  same 
moment,  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  The  first  to  speak 
was  the  British  Cicero,  Edmund  Burke,  at  whose  side 
stood  "Fox  and  Sheridan,  the  English  Demosthenes  and 
the  English  Hyperides,"  whose  brilliant  and  burning 
denunciations  will  live  for  all  time. 

And  yet  this  majestic  array,  this  matchless  display  of 
modern  eloquence  all  ended  in  nothing.  After  the  trial 
had  lasted  for  nearly  eight  years,  after  sixty  of  the  nobles 
who  had  walked  in  the  procession  at  the  beginning  of 
the  trial  had  been  borne  to  their  ancestral  tombs,  after 
the  friendship  of  the  brilliant  triumvirate  of  prosecutors 
had  been  violently  and  publicly  dissolved,  Hastings  was 
acquitted  by  a  vote  unanimously  in  his  favor  on  some 
charges  and  nearly  so  on  others.  After  being  thus  sol- 
emnly absolved  by  the  lords  he  retired  to  his  ancestral 
home  at  Daylesford  where,  at  an  extreme  old  age,  he 
died  peacefully  in  his  bed  at  last. 

When  we  return  to  the  senatorial  court  convened  by 
the  praetor  for  the  trial  of  Verres,  we  look  in  vain  for 
official  managers  of  the  impeachment  against  him.  Under 
the  law  of  Rome  anyone  could  offer  to  conduct  such  a 
prosecution,  subject  to  the  right  of  the  court  to  accept 


QUINTUS    HORTENSIUS. 


I 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR 


141 


or  reject  him.22  Because  that  preliminary  question  was 
settled  by  argument  alone,  without  evidence,  it  was  called 
divinatio,  the  judges  being  compelled  to  guess  or  divine 
their  way;  and  when  an  attempt  was  made,  as  in  this 
case,  to  make  the  prosecution  a  farce  by  employing  a 
friend  of  the  accused  to  conduct  it,  such  a  trick  was 
called  praevaricatio. 

Verres,  backed  by  the  Scipios  and  Metelli,  and  advised 
by  the  great  advocate  Hortensius,  was  ready  with  Caeci- 
lius,  a  former  quaestor  and  partner  in  his  frauds  and 
oppressions,  when  the  praetor,  early  in  the  year  70  B.C., 
convened  the  court  to  settle  the  preliminary  question  as 
to  a  prosecutor.  In  anticipation  of  such  a  move  the 
Sicilians  had  turned  to  one  to  whom  they  were  drawn  by 
the  double  inducements  of  fame  and  friendship.  In  the 
year  76  B.C.  Cicero  had  been  elected  to  the  quaestorship, 
the  western  diocese  of  Sicily  governed  from  Lilybaeum 
being  assigned  to  him  —  an  office  he  administered  so  ably 
and  honestly  as  to  win  not  only  the  approval  but  the 
affection  of  the  provincials.  It  is  not  therefore  strange 
that  a  grateful  people  should  have  appealed  to  the  rising 
advocate,  now  curulian  aedile  elect,23  to  represent  them 
as  prosecutor  in  the  pending  impeachment. 

Accepting  the  trust  with  all  the  zeal  that  could  be 
inspired  by  a  great  opportunity,  apart  from  his  profes- 
sional rivalry  with  Hortensius,  Cicero  offered  himself  as 
prosecutor  against  Caecilius  who,  for  the  moment,  pre- 


Verres  de- 
funded  by 
Hortensius. 


Cicero  em- 
ployed by 
Sicilians  as 
prosecutor. 


His  attack  on 
Caecilius. 


22  As  to  the  right  to  prosecute,  see  Greenidge,  The  Legal  Procedure  of 
Cicero's  Time,  pp.  n,  459. 

23  Suringar,  p.  80.  v.  Aedilis  in  Latin  Thesaurus.  In  Verr.  5,  36.  "Now 
I  am  aedile  elect,  I  consider  what  it  is  that  I  have  received  from  the 
Roman  people;  I  consider  that  I  am  bound  to  celebrate  holy  games  with 
the  most  solemn  ceremonies  to  Ceres,  to  Bacchus,  and  Libera ;  but  I  am 
bound  to  render  Flora  propitious  to  the  Roman  nation  and  people  by  the 
splendor  of  her  games."  —  In  Verr.,  v.  14. 


142  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

tended  to  be  the  enemy  of  Verres.24  In  his  opening 
speech  made  on  the  preliminary  hearing  Cicero  con- 
tended, with  all  the  withering  force  of  invective,  first,  that 
the  pretended  enmity  of  Caecilius  was  a  sham;  second, 
that  he  was  notoriously  incompetent  to  conduct  such  a 
prosecution.  After  emphasizing  the  first  objection,  and 
defining  what  the  qualifications  of  a  prosecutor  should 
be,  turning  to  Caecilius  he  said: 

Hisgener-  Are  you   then   endowed   with   all  these  qualifications?  .... 

ous  tribute  for  jf  yOU  are  aDie  tociay  t0  answer  me  these  things  which  I  am 
saying;  if  you  even  depart  one  word  from  that  book  which  some 
elocution  master  or  other  has  given  you,  made  up  of  other  men's 
speeches,  I  shall  think  that  you  are  able  to  speak,  and  that  you 
are  not  unequal  to  that  trial  also,  and  that  you  will  be  able  to  do 
justice  to  the  cause  and  to  the  duty  you  undertake.  But  if  in 
this  preliminary  skirmish  with  me  you  turn  out  nothing,  what 
can  we  suppose  you  will  be  in  the  contest  itself  against  a  most 
active  adversary?25 

Then  in  a  lofty  tone  of  self-adulation,  which  became 
habitual,  Cicero  in  speaking  of  himself  said: 

I,  who  as  all  men  know,  am  so  much  concerned  in  the  Forum 
and  the  courts  of  justice,  that  there  is  no  one  of  the  same  age  [he 
was  then  thirty-six],  or  very  few,  who  have  defended  more  causes, 
and  who  spend  all  my  time  which  can  be  spared  from  the  business 
of  my  friends  in  these  studies  and  labors,  in  order  that  I  may  be 
more  prepared  for  forensic  practice,  more  ready  at  it,  yet,  (may 
the  gods  be  favorable  to  me  as  I  am  saying  what  is  true!)  when- 
ever the  thought  occurs  to  me  of  the  day  when,  the  defendant 
having  been  summoned,  I  have  to  speak,  I  am  not  only  agitated 
in  my  mind,  but  a  shudder  runs  over  my  whole  body.26 

24  It  was  to  the  interest  of  the  state  to  avoid  both  weakness  and  collusion. 
The  prosecutor  should  be  one  "quem  minime  velit  is,  qui  eas  injurias  fecisse 
arguator."  —  Cicero  in  Caecilium,  3,  10. 

25  In  Caecil.,  16. 

26  Ibid.,  13. 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR 


143 


A  moment  before  he  had  paid  even  a  higher  tribute 
to  himself,  when  he  said  tauntingly  to  Caecilius: 

Even  if  you  had  learned  Greek  literature  at  Athens,  not  at 
Lilybaeum,  and  Latin  literature  at  Rome  and  not  in  Sicily,  still 
it  would  be  a  great  undertaking  to  approach  so  important  a  cause, 
and  one  about  which  there  is  such  great  expectation.27 

Cicero's  plan  was  effective;  the  court  appointed  him 
prosecutor,  giving  him  time,  one  hundred  and  ten  days, 
in  which  to  gather  evidence  and  prepare  his  arguments 
for  the  trial  on  the  merits.  Then  followed  what  lawyers 
call  a  race  of  diligence,  the  defendant,  who  had  failed, 
by  the  lavish  use  of  money,  to  organize  the  court  in  his 
own  interest,  desiring  a  postponement  until  the  next  year 
when  his  powerful  friend  Metellus  (to  whom  the  lot  for 
69  B.C.  had  assigned  this  very  court)  would  begin  his 
praetorship.  By  almost  superhuman  efforts  Cicero,  as- 
sisted by  his  cousin  Lucius,  visited  all  the  complaining 
communities  in  Sicily  and  completed  the  gathering  of 
his  evidence  in  fifty  days.  Only  at  Messana  and  Syra- 
cuse did  he  meet  with  any  difficulty  in  procuring  evidence. 
While  the  former,  instigated  by  the  new  praetor  Metel- 
lus, the  friend  and  successor  of  Verres,  held  out  against 
him,  he  so  won  over  the  Syracusans,  after  an  address 
delivered  in  Greek  before  the  Senate  in  the  town  hall, 
that  they  erased  from  the  city  records  a  complimentary 
decree  Verres  had  extorted  through  their  fears. 

Thus  armed,  the  tireless  prosecutor,  who  paid  all  his 
own  expenses,  was  able  to  brush  aside  all  expedients  for 
delay,  and  to  force  the  trial,  which  began  on  August  5 
before  a  court  composed  of  course  entirely  of  senators 
who  sat  under  the  presidency  of  the  praetor  urbanus, 
M.  Acilius  Glabrio.     In  all  such  trials  the  judices  were 

27  In  Caecil,  12. 


Cicero 

appointed 

prosecutor. 


Gathered 
evidence  in 
fifty  days. 


Trial  began 
August  5. 


144 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Proofs  for 
prosecution 
concluded 
in  nine  days. 

Verres 
slipped  away 
into  exile. 


Prosecutor 
delivered  but 
one  speech. 


provided  with  three  tabellae,  one  of  which  was  marked 
with  A,  i.  e.,  absolvo,  I  acquit;  the  second  with  C,  i.  e.,  con- 
demno,  I  condemn;  and  the  third  with  N.  L.,  i.e.,  non 
liquet.  And  it  would  seem  that  in  some  trials  the  tabel- 
lae were  marked  with  the  letters  L,  libro,  and  D,  damno, 
respectively. 

Fearing  that  his  well-laid  plans  for  a  speedy  trial 
might  be  upset,  Cicero  entirely  disconcerted  Hortensius 
by  dispensing  with  the  long  and  formal  oration  usual  on 
such  occasions.  After  a  short  introduction  known  as 
Interrogatio  Testium,  so  called  because  a  brief  outline 
of  the  evidence  upon  which  the  prosecution  proposed  to 
rely,  he  proceeded  at  once  to  present  his  affidavits  and 
examine  his  witnesses,  all  of  which  was  concluded  in  nine 
days.  But  before  that  point  was  reached  Verres  had 
disappeared.28  So  overwhelmed  was  he  by  the  proofs 
offered  against  him  that,  after  the  third  day  of  the  trial, 
he  slipped  away  from  Rome  into  exile,29  before  the  sen- 
tence, banishment  and  a  heavy  fine,  could  be  imposed 
upon  him. 

The  only  oration  actually  delivered  by  Cicero  in  this 
case  was  the  brief  introduction  preceding  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  witnesses,  in  which  he  boldly  declared  that  he 
was  driven  to  such  an  unusual  proceeding  by  the  intrigues 
of  his  opponents.  He  began  by  warning  the  senators 
that  upon  the  result  of  this  trial  would  depend  theii 
power  to  retain  the  criminal  jurisdiction  so  long  veste< 
in  the  equestrian  order. 

For  an  opinion  has  now  been  established  pernicious  to  us,  ant 
pernicious  to  the  Republic,  which  has  been  the  common  talk  o 
everyone,  not  only  at  Rome,  but  among  foreign  nations  also- 
that  in  the  courts  of  law  as  they  exist  at  present,  no  wealthy  man 


28  Pseudo-A sconius ;  p.  126. 


20  Ibid.,  p.  126. 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR 


145 


however  guilty  he  may  be,  can  possibly  be  convicted.  Now  at  this 
time  of  peril  to  your  order  and  to  your  tribunals,  when  men  are 
ready  to  attempt  by  harangues,  and  by  the  proposal  of  new  laws, 
to  increase  the  existing  unpopularity  of  the  Senate,  Caius  Verres 
is  brought  to  trial  as  a  criminal,  a  man  condemned  in  the  opinion 
of  everyone  by  his  life  and  actions,  but  acquitted,  by  the  enormous- 
ness  of  his  wealth,  according  to  his  own  hope  and  boast.30 

At  that  moment  an  agitation  was  in  progress  for  such 
a  reformation  of  the  senatorial  courts  as  would  compel 
the  praetor  urbanus  to  constitute  them  of  judices  drawn 
equally  from  the  Senate,  the  equestrian  order,  and  from 
the  tribuni  aerarii,  the  highest  social  strata  of  the  ple- 
beians—  a  reform  ultimately  embodied  in  the  lex  Aurelia 
judiciaria.31     Passing  then  to  the  main  issue  he  said: 

While  this  man  was  praetor  the  Sicilians  enjoyed  neither  their 
own  laws,  nor  the  decrees  of  the  Senate,  nor  the  common  rights 

of  every  nation Roman  citizens  were  tortured  and  put  to 

death  like  slaves;  the  greatest  criminals  were  acquitted  in  the 
courts  of  justice  through  bribery;  the  most  upright  and  honorable 
men,  being  prosecuted  while  absent,  were  condemned  and  ban- 
ished   without   being   heard    in    their    own    defense The 

Roman  people  will  understand  that  with  an  upright  and  honor- 
able praetor,  and  a  carefully  selected  bench  of  judges,  abundance 
of  wealth  has  more  influence  in  bringing  a  criminal  into  suspicion 

than   in   contributing   to   his   safety We   say   that   Caius 

Verres  has  not  only  done  many  licentious  acts,  many  cruel  ones 
toward  Roman  citizens,  and  toward  some  of  the  allies,  many 
wicked  acts  against  both  gods  and  men ;  but  especially  that  he 
has  taken  away  from  Sicily  forty  millions  of  sesterces  contrary  to 
law.32 

Cicero  could  not  permit  the  flight  of  Verres  to  deprive 
him  of  a  precious  opportunity  to  give  to  the  world  the 

30  In  Verr.,  i,  1. 

81  Cf.  Lange,  vol.  iii,  p.  197;  Veil.,  ii,  32;  Madvig,  f.  1,  182  sq.;  Sihler, 
pp.  74,  90. 

32  In  Verr.,  i,  4,  5,  17,  18. 


His  warn- 
ing to  the 
tribunal. 


Reform  of 
senatorial 
courts. 


The 
main  issue. 


Unspoken 
speeches 
published  in 
five  books. 


146 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Fiction  of 
a  "second 
pleading." 


great  and  formal  orations  he  had  hoped  to  deliver  orally. 
He  therefore  published  them  afterward,  as  he  had  in- 
tended to  deliver  them,  in  five  books  entitled  as  follows: 

First  book. —  Of  the  second  pleading  against  Verres  —  respect- 
ing his  conduct  in  the  city  praetorship.  Second  book. —  Of  the 
second  pleading  against  Verres  —  concerning  his  manner  of  de- 
ciding causes  as  judge  while  in  Sicily.  Third  book. —  Of  the 
second  pleading  in  the  accusation  against  Verres  —  on  the  count 
relating  to  corn.  Fourth  book. — Of  the  second  pleading  in  the 
prosecution  of  Verres — respecting  the  statutes.  Fifth  book. —  Of 
the  second  pleading  in  the  prosecution  of  Verres  —  speech  on  the 
punishments. 

Thus  by  employing  the  fiction  of  a  "second  pleading" 
or  trial,  like  the  second  defense  of  Milo,  Cicero  was 
able  to  put  forth  a  brilliant  publication  deliberately  pre- 
pared, containing  a  wealth  of  priceless  information. 


The  five  books,  one  and  all,  are  permeated  by  a  spirit  of  tri 
umph.  The  aim  of  Cicero  in  the  composition  and  publication 
was  indeed  personal  and  professional,  both  of  these;  but  for  ui 
and  the  enduring  concerns  of  history,  he  did  vastly  more.  He 
accumulated  a  great  mass  of  incontrovertible  data  which  show 
why  the  Republic  was  doomed,  at  least  why  the  exploitation  of 
the  Mediterranean  world  by  the  Roman  oligarchy  could  not  go 
\  on  forever;  further,  how  that  correlative  at  home,  the  purchase 
and  sale  of  the  electorate,  in  spite  of  the  ever  new  laws  de  ambitu, 
\  was  the  other  running  ulcer  of  the  body  politic  which  was  ruining 
the  state  and  which  ultimately  delivered  it  to  a  military 
monarchy.33 

By  his  oral  and  written  efforts  embodied  in  the  brilliant 
and  vigorous  Verrines,  coupled  with  the  almost  super- 
normal energy  and  courage  by  which  he  had  forced  a 
Cice     eader  conviction   of  Verres   under   the   most   difficult    circum- 

of  Roman  bar 

at  thirty-six.    stances,  Cicero,  at  thirty-six,  reached  the  lonely  eminence, 

33  Sihler,  pp.  75-76. 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR  147 

of  leader  of  the  Roman  bar,  with  his  most  famous  foren- 
sic rival,  Hortensius,  humbled  in  the  dust.  He  had  now 
reached  a  turning-point  in  his  career.  As  in  our  own 
public  life,  success  at  the  bar  opened  the  way  to  political 
offices  and  political  honors.  He  who  had  been  quaestor 
and  aedile  had  the  praetorship  and  consulship  before 
him.  Everything  must  now  be  sacrificed  to  popularity. 
The  ambitious  advocate  therefore  announced  that  he  will  not  ap- 
would  no  longer  appear  as  a  prosecutor.  At  the  con-  J^JJJJ^ 
elusion  of  the  last  published  speech  in  the  case  of  Verres, 
he  expresses  the  hope  — 

....  that  the  Republic,  and  my  own  duty  to  it,  may  be  content 
with  my  undertaking  this  one  prosecution,  and  that  I  may  be 
allowed  for  the  future  to  defend  the  good  instead  of  being  com- 
pelled to  prosecute  the  infamous.34 

Eight  years   after  the   conviction   of  Verres,    Cicero 
undertook  the  defense  of  his  old  Greek  teacher,  the  poet  Defense 
Archias,   who   had  come   to    Rome   nearly   forty  years   Archias°et 
before  in  the  train  of  Lucullus  when  Cicero  was  a  child. 
As  a  means  no  doubt  of  assailing  the  Luculli,  an  attack 
was  made  by  Gratius  on  their  protege,  Archias,  who  was 
accused  as  a  false  pretender  to  the  rights  of  Roman  citi- 
zenship,   involving   probably   an   application   of  the   lex  AppHca- 
Papiria,  which  provided  that  those  who  were  on  the  reg-   »-» JJLj  -a 
ister  of  any  confederate  city  as  its  citizens  were  to  be 
exempt  from  its  operation,  provided  they  were  residing 
in  Italy  at  the  time  the  law  was  passed,  and  had  made  a 
return  of  themselves  to  the  praetor,  within  sixty  days.35 

The  name  of  Archias,  who  had  acquired  citizenship 

34  In  Verr.,  v,  72. 

35  So  said  Cicero,  Pro  Arch.,  4.  Only  one  clause  of  this  law  is  known, 
that  by  which  the  civitas  was  granted  to  incolae  enrolled  on  the  registers  of 
federate  communities.  —  Greenidge,  Roman  Public  Life,  p.  311,  note  5. 
This  author  remarks  that  "It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  this  cumbrous 
rule  applied  to  the  citizens  of  the  towns." 


148  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

under  the  regulations  enacted  at  the  close  of  the  Social 
War,  did  not  appear  on  the  census  lists,  as  he  was  abroad 
with  L.  Lucullus.  That  difficulty  Cicero  contended  had 
been  removed  by  the  enrolment  of  Archias  before  his 
return  to  Rome,  during  his  stay  at  the  confederate  city 
of  Heraclea.  The  oration  is  occupied  however  not  so 
much  with  legal  arguments  as  with  a  panegyric  on  Archias, 
who  is  supposed  to  have  died  soon  afterward,  and  with 
those  touching  tributes  Cicero  never  failed  to  pay  to  him- 
self. In  the  year  of  the  trial,  62  B.C.,  Caesar  was  a 
praetor  as  was  also  Cicero's  brother  Quintus,  who  seems 
to  have  presided  at  the  trial  of  Archias.  After  thanking 
the  poet  for  the  training  he  had  given  to  his  mind  and  to 
his  tongue,  Cicero  said: 

I  entreat  you  in  this  cause  to  grant  me  this  indulgence,  suitable 
Tributes  to  to  this  defendant,  and  I  trust  not  disagreeable  to  you  —  the  indul- 
Archias.  gence  of  allowing  me,  when  speaking  in  defense  of  a  most  sublime 

poet  and  most  learned  man,  before  this  concourse  of  highly  edu- 
cated citizens,  before  this  most  polite  and  accomplished  assembly 
and  before  such  a  praetor  as  him  who  is  presiding  at  this  trial,  to 
enlarge  with  a  little  more  freedom  than  usual  on  the  study  of 
polite  literature  and  refined  arts.36 

When  Archias  arrived  at  Rome,  "Italy  was  at  that 
time  full  of  Greek  science  and  of  Greek  systems,  and 
these  studies  were  at  that  time  cultivated  in  Latium  with 
greater  zeal  than  they  now  are  in  the  same  towns." 
After  stating  the  precise  question  of  law  at  issue,  he  said: 

As  he  had  now  a  residence  at  Rome  for  many  years,  he  returned 

Precise  ques-    himself  as  a  citizen  to  the  praetor,  Quintus  Metellus,  his  most 

tion  at  issue,     intimate  friend.     If  we  have  nothing  else  to  speak  about  except 

the  rights  of  citizenship  and  the  law,  I  need  say  no  more.     The 

cause  is  over.     For  which  of  all  these  statements,  Gratius,  can 

be  invalidated  ?     Will  you  deny  that  he  was  enrolled,  at  the  time 

38  Pro  Arch.,  2. 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR  149 

I  speak  of,  as  a  citizen  of  Heraclea?  ....  You  ask  us,  O 
Gratius,  why  we  are  so  exceedingly  fond  of  this  man.  Because 
he  supplies  us  with  food  whereby  our  mind  is  refreshed  after  this 
noise  in  the  Forum,  and  with  rest  for  our  ears  after  they  have 
been  wearied  with  bad  language.37 

As  the  Catiline  matter  was  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of   Reference 
his  audience  Cicero  said:  !!!.«J!!-,B" 

matter. 
I  will  now  reveal  my  own  feelings  to  you,  O  judges,  and  I 
will  make  a  confession  to  you  of  my  own  love  of  glory  —  too 
eager  perhaps,  but  still  honorable.  For  this  man  has  in  his 
verses  touched  upon  and  begun  the  celebration  of  the  deeds  which 
we  in  our  consulship  did  in  union  with  you  for  the  safety  of  this 
city  and  empire,  and  in  defense  of  the  life  of  the  citizens  and  of 
the  whole  Republic.  And  when  I  had  heard  his  commencement, 
because  it  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  great  subject  and  at  the  same 
time  an  agreeable  one,  I  encouraged  him  to  complete  his  work. 
For  virtue  seeks  no  other  reward  for  its  labors  and  its  dangers 
beyond  that  of  praise  and  renown;  and  if  that  be  denied  to  it, 
what  reason  is  there,  O  judges,  why  in  so  small  and  brief  a 
course  of  life  as  is  allotted  to  us,  we  should  impose  such  labors 
on  ourselves.38 

Ten  fateful  years  then  passed  by  before  the  time  came 
for  Cicero  to  appear  as  the  defender  of  Milo.  The  cap-  Defense 
ital  of  the  Roman  world,  which  now  belonged  to  Caesar 
and  Pompey,  was  fast  drifting  toward  anarchy.  The 
civil  year,  53  B.C.,  had  ended  without  any  consular  elec- 
tion; the  three  candidates  in  the  field  were  Plautius 
Hypsaeus,  supported  by  Pompey;  Quintus  Metellus 
Scipio;  and  Annius  Milo,  supported  by  Cicero.39  The  bit- 
ter enemy  of  Milo,  Clodius,  a  young  libertine,  with  whom 

37  Pro.  Arch.,  5,  6. 

38  Ibid.,  11. 

39  In  a  letter  written  to  Curio  on  that  subject  Cicero  says:  "Did  I  not 
know  that  you  must  be  fully  aware,  while  writing  this  letter  to  you,  under 
what  a  weight  of  obligation  I  am  laboring,  how  strongly  I  am  bound  to 
work  in  this  election  for  Milo,  not  only  with  every  kind  of  exertion,  but 
even  with  downright  fighting,  I  should  have  written  at  greater  length."  — 
Ad  Fam.,  ii,  6. 


150  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Cicero  had  had  a  quarrel  some  nine  years  before  in  con- 
nection with  the  Bona  Dea  scandal,  was  a  candidate  for 
the  praetorship  which  would  have  signified  but  little  to 
ciodius  him  with  Milo  as  consul.     On  January  18,  52  B.C.,  when 

y1  e  '     0       Rome  was  really  without  a  government  by  reason  of  the 

January  is,  /  o  j 

52  b.c.  veto  of  a  tribune  forbidding  the  declaration  of  an  inter- 

regnum, Milo,  traveling  along  the  Appian  Way  in  a  car- 
riage with  his  wife  Fausta  (daughter  of  Sulla)  and  his 
friend  Fusius,  attended  by  a  body  of  slaves  and  two 
well-known  gladiators,  near  Bovillae,  close  to  a  chapel 
of  the  Bona  Dea,  met  Ciodius  on  horseback,  accom- 
panied by  three  friends  and  about  thirty  armed  slaves. 
It  seems  that  Cicero  had  told  Atticus  four  years  before 
that  Milo  had  declared  that  he  would  kill  Ciodius  if  he 
ever  met  him.  At  last  they  met,  and  the  fight  began 
after  the  cavalcades  had  almost  passed  each  other,  when 
Milo's  two  gladiators  provoked  a  quarrel  with  the  hin- 
dermost  of  Ciodius'  slaves.  When  Ciodius  demanded 
in  a  threatening  tone  to  know  the  cause  of  the  difficulty 
one  of  the  gladiators  pierced  his  shoulder  with  a  javelin; 
and  after  he  had  been  taken  into  a  wine  shop  near  by, 
he  was  dragged  out  in  the  midst  of  a  general  fight  and 
murdered  by  Milo's  orders. 

The  Senate  was  now  thoroughly  alarmed;  Lepidus  was 
appointed  interrex,  and  to  him,  with  the  tribunes  and 
Pompey,  the  care  of  the  public  order  was  committed. 
While  men  were  talking  of  Caesar  as  dictator,  the  Senate 
Pompeymade  averted  that  move  by  giving  the  reins  of  power  to 
soeconsu.  pompey,  not  as  dictator,  an  unpopular  term,  but  as  sole 
consul,  without  submitting  the  question  to  the  people.40 

40  Dio,  40,  50;  Plut.,  Cat.  Min.,  47.  As  there  were  no  consuls,  the  Senate's 
proclamation  of  martial  law  declared  "that  the  interrex  and  the  tribunes 
of  the  plebs  and  the  proconsul  Cnaeus  Pompeius  should  see  to  it  that  the 
Republic  suffered  no  harm." 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR  151 

At  that  juncture  three  of  the  tribunes,  Plancus,  Sallust, 
and  Pompeius,  by  violent  harrangues,  did  all  in  their 
power  to  inflame  the  public  mind  against  Milo,  attacking 
at  the  same  time  his  defender,  Cicero,  who  thus  became 
almost  as  unpopular  as  his  client. 

Milo  was  certainly  in  great  danger,  charged  as  he  was 
with  three  distinct  offenses  —  murder  and  illegal  violence 
(de  vi)  ;  corrupt  practices  at  elections  (ambitus) ;  organ- 
izing and  belonging  to  unlawful  clubs  (de  sodaliciis)  — 
each  calling  for  a  separate  arraignment.     On  April  8, 
just  a  hundred  days  after  the  happening  of  the  tragedy    Milo  tried 
in  the  Appian  Way,  a  political  trial  was  to  begin  in  the    l^nslfS' 
midst  of  the  hot  passions  of  factions.     Under  a   new    factions, 
statute  enacted  through  the  influence  of  Pompey  a  court    Court  organ- 
was  assembled  not  under  the  praetor  urbanus,  but  under    n^  statute 
a  special  commissioner,  Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  probably 
elected  by  the  people  at  Pompey's  suggestion,41  consisting 
of  81  judices  chosen  by  lot  out  of  a  larger  selected  body 
numbering  300.  It  was  provided  that  after  the  8 1  had  heard 
the  speeches  on  both  sides,  not  to  occupy  collectively  more 
than  five  hours,  the  prosecution  and  defense  were  each  to 
challenge  15  (5  of  each  class),  leaving  thus  51  to  render 
judgment,  divided  no  doubt  into  18  senators,  17  knights, 
and  16  tribuni  aerarii. 

The  drawing  of  the  judices  began  at  dawn,  and  before 
eight  the  prosecutors,  Appius  Claudius,  Marc  Antony 
(now  for  the  first  time  in  Cicero's  path),  and  Valerius 
Nepos  had  begun  their  speeches.  After  they  had  con- 
sumed the  two  hours  given  them  by  the  new  law,  Cicero, 
unassisted,  rose  to  speak  in  defense  of  Milo.     It  was 

41  Asconius  calls  Domitius  "Quaesitor  suffragio  populi";  and  Cicero  (Pro 
T.  Annio  Milone,  8),  speaking  of  Pompey,  says,  "Quod  vero  te  L.  Domiti 
huic  questione  praeesse  voluit  ....  ex  consularibus  te  creavit  potissi- 
mum."  —  Forsyth,  vol.  ii,  p.  20,  n.  I. 


152 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero 
intimidated. 


His  speech 
rewritten. 
Plea  of 
self-defense. 


certainly  a  critical  moment,  calculated  to  unnerve  the  bold- 
est advocate  —  with  all  the  shops  in  the  city  closed,  with 
Pompey  near  at  hand42  with  a  select  guard,  with  the 
court  itself  surrounded  with  glittering  spears  of  the  sol- 
diers there  to  preserve  order,  and  the  mob  of  Claudian 
sympathizers  hooting  in  defiance  of  all  authority. 

It  is  certain  that  the  unusual  spectacle  so  disquieted 
Cicero,  always  tremulous  as  he  tells  us  on  the  eve  of 
such  a  contest,  that  he  lost  his  self-possession.  His  speech 
was  undoubtedly  far  below  his  standard  —  ineffective  and 
imperfect  in  its  delivery.  Milo  was  convicted  and  ban- 
ished by  a  vote  of  thirty-eight  for  condemnation  against 
thirteen  for  acquittal,  Cato  voting  openly  with  the  minor- 
ity. That  part  of  the  failure  was  final;  not  so  with  the 
oration.  In  order  to  wipe  out  the  memory  of  his  dis- 
comfiture Cicero,  not  long  after  the  trial  was  over,  wrote, 
as  in  the  case  of  Verres,  one  of  the  finest  forensic 
orations  even  constructed,  specially  rich  in  rhetorical 
craft.43 

The  orator's  plea  was  self-defense.  He  contended  that 
Clodius  had  declared  in  public  speeches  that  Milo  must 
be  killed;  that  he  could  be  deprived  of  life,  but  not  of  the 
consulship  if  he  lived;  that  Clodius  was  the  aggressor; 
that  there  was  no  premeditation  on  Milo's  part;  that  his 
slaves  had  killed  Clodius  without  his  knowledge  or  consent 
to  avenge  the  supposed  death  of  their  master.  In  stating 
the  law  of  self-defense  he  said: 

42  The  tribunal  was  before  the  Temple  of  Castor,  Pompey  being  seated 
at  some  distance,  near  the  Temple  of  Saturn,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  Forum. 
Cicero,  addressing  Pompey,  exclaimed:  "I  appeal  to  you,  and  I  raise  my 
voice  that  you  may  hear  me",  "Te  enim  jam  appello,  et  ea  voce  ut  me 
exaudire  possis."  —  Pro  Milo.,  25. 

43  When  Milo,  in  exile,  read  this  speech,  he  is  reported  to  have  said:  "It 
is  just  as  well  that  Cicero  did  not  succeed  in  delivering  this  speech,  or  I 
should  not  have  known  the  taste  of  these  excellent  mullets  of  Massilia." 
—  Dio,  xl,  54. 


CICERO  AS  LEADER  OF  THE  ROMAN  BAR 


153 


The  law  very  wisely,  and  in  a  manner  silently,  gives  a  man  a  Statement 
right  to  defend  himself,  does  not  merely  forbid  a  man  to  be  slain,  °* the  'aw- 
but  forbids  anyone  to  have  a  weapon  about  him  with  the  object 
of  slaying  a  man;  so  that,  as  the  object,  and  not  the  weapon  itself, 
is  made  the  subject  of  the  inquiry  the  man  who  had  used  a  weapon 
with  the  object  of  defending  himself  would  be  decided  not  to 
have  had  his  weapon  about  him  with  the  object  of  killing  a  man. 
Let,  then,  this  principle  be  remembered  by  you  in  this  trial,  O 
judges;  for  I  do  not  doubt  that  I  shall  make  good  my  defense 
before  you,  if  you  only  remember  —  what  you  cannot  forget  — 
that  a  plotter  against  one  may  be  lawfully  slain.44 

Passing  then  to  his  version  of  the  facts,  colored,  of    Statement 
course,  to  suit  his  side  of  the  case,  he  said: 

But  Milo,  as  he  had  been  that  day  in  the  Senate  till  it  was 
dismissed,  came  home,  changed  his  shoes  and  his  garments,  waited 
a  little  as  men  do,  while  his  wife  was  getting  ready,  and  then 
started  at  the  time  when  Clodius  might  have  returned,  if,  indeed, 
he  had  been  coming  to  Rome  that  day.  Clodius  meets  him  unen- 
cumbered on  horseback,  with  no  carriage,  with  no  baggage,  with 
no  Greek  companions,  as  he  was  used  to,  without  his  wife,  which 
was  scarcely  ever  the  case;  while  this  plotter  who  had  taken,  for- 
sooth, that  journey  for  the  express  purpose  of  murder,  was  driving 
with  his  wife  in  a  carriage,  in  heavy  traveling  cloak,  with  abun- 
dant baggage,  with  a  delicate  company  of  women,  and  maid- 
servants, and  boys.45 

He  meets  Clodius  in  front  of  his  farm,  about  the  eleventh  hour, 
or  not  far  from  it.  Immediately  a  number  of  men  attack  him 
from  the  higher  ground  with  missile  weapons.  The  men  who 
are  in  front  kill  his  driver,  and  he  had  jumped  down  from  his 
chariot  and  flung  aside  his  cloak,  and  while  he  was  defending 
himself  with  vigorous  courage,  the  men  who  were  with  Clodius 
drew  their  swords,  and  some  of  them  ran  back  toward  his  chariot 
in  order  to  attack  Milo  from  behind,  and  some,  because  they 
thought  that  he  was  already  slain,  began  to  attack  his  servants 
who  were  behind  them;  and  those  of  the  servants  who  had  pres- 
ence of  mind  to  defend  themselves,  and  were  faithful  to  their 
44  Pro  Milo.,  4.  « ibid.,  10. 


154 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Picture  of 
Clodius. 


An  observa- 
tion on  life. 


master,  were  some  of  them  slain,  and  the  others,  when  they  saw 
a  fierce  battle  taking  place  around  the  chariot,  and  as  they  were 
prevented  from  getting  near  their  master  so  as  to  succour  him, 
when  they  heard  Clodius  himself  proclaim  that  Milo  was  slain, 
and  they  thought  that  it  was  really  true,  they,  the  servants  of 
Milo  ....  did,  without  their  master  either  commanding  it,  or 
knowing  it,  or  even  being  present  to  see  it,  what  everyone  would 
have  wished  his  servants  to  do  in  a  similar  case.46 

There  is  a  natural  curiosity  of  course  to  read  what  the 
great  master  of  invective  had  to  say  of  such  a  detested 
and  harmful  personal  enemy  as  Clodius  had  been.  Pass- 
ing over  the  almost  unprintable  abuse  put  into  the  mouth 
of  Milo,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  reproduce  a  part  of  what 
Cicero  said  on  his  own  account: 

I  swear  to  you,  the  fortune  of  the  Roman  people  appeared  to 
me  hard  and  cruel,  while  it  for  so  many  years  beheld  and  endured 
that  man  triumphing  over  the  republic.  He  had  polluted  the 
holiest  religious  observances  with  his  debauchery;  he  had  broken 
the  most  authoritative  decrees  of  the  Senate ;  he  had  openly  bought 
himself  from  the  judges  with  money;  he  had  rescinded  acts  which 
had  been  passed  for  the  sake  of  the  safety  of  the  Republic,  by  the 
consent  of  all  orders  of  the  State;  he  had  driven  me  from  my 
country;  he  had  plundered  my  property;  he  had  burnt  my  house; 
he  had  ill-treated  my  children  and  my  wife;  he  had  declared  a 
wicked  war  against  Cnaeus  Pompeius;  he  had  made  slaughter  of 
magistrates  and  private  individuals;  he  had  burnt  the  house  of 
my  brother;  he  had  laid  waste  Etruria;  he  had  driven  numbers 
of  men  from  their  homes  and  professions.47 

As  an  observation  on  life  this  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
striking: 

See,  now,  how  various  and  changeable  is  the  course  of  human 
life  —  how  fickle  and  full  of  revolutions  is  fortune;  what  instances 
of  perfidy  are  seen  in  friends,  how  they  dissemble  and  suit  their 
behavior  to  the  occasion;  when  dangers  beset  one,  how  one's 
nearest  connections  fly  off,  and  what  cowardice  they  show.48 
*•  Pro  Milo.,  10.  *7  Ibid.,  32.  48  Ibid.,  26. 


; 


CHAPTER  VII 

CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN 

With  the  announcement  made  at  the  close  of  his  great 
speech  in  the  case  of  Verres  that  he  would  appear  no 
more  in  the  courts  as  a  prosecutor,  Cicero's  career  as  a 
statesman,  in  the  largest  sense  of  that  term,  really  began. 

Like  his  great  fellow-townsman,   Marius,  he  was  a 
self-made  man,  the  joint  product  of  genius  and  culture, 
largely  Greek  culture.     Despised  by  the  Roman  aristoc- 
racy as  a  peregrinus,1  and  unpopular  with  the   Roman 
populace,  he  was  the  trusted  leader  of  the  Italian  middle    Cicero 
class,  designated  by  him  as  "the  true  Roman  people."    0{\ta\\^n 
Opposed  alike  to  socialistic  dreams  and  to  aristocratic   middle  class, 
exclusiveness,  he  stood  with  the  people  for  the  ancient 
simplicity  of  life  as  against  the  splendid  luxury  of  the  cap- 
ital.2 

It  was  his  influence  with  the  middle  class  that  won    His  influence 
his  elections  to  the  offices  of  quaestor,  aedile,  praetor,    diss  secured 
and  consul,  at  the  earliest  age  at  which  it  was  possible    elections 
to  hold  them;  it  was  their  voice  that  insisted  in  58  B.C. 
upon  his  recall  from  exile ; 3  it  was  his  power  over  them 
that  made  Caesar  eager  to  win  him  over  in  49  B.C. 
When  at  the  age  of  thirty-one  he  offered  himself  as  a 
candidate  for  one  of  the  quaestorships,  whose  duties  were 
by  that  time  chiefly  financial,  he  was  elected  "with  all 
the  votes."  4     No  one  could  be  chosen  praetor  until  he 

1  Pro  Sulla,  7 ;  Sail.,  Cat.,  xxxi,  "inquilinus  urbis  Romae." 

2  Pro  P.  Quinctio,  31;  Pro  Cluent,  46. 

3  Pro  Domo,  28;  Pro  Cn.  Plancio,  41. 

4  Brut,  93. 

155 


156 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


The  cursus 

honorum. 


for  69  B.C. 


had  been  quaestor,  or  consul  until  he  had  been  praetor 

—  those  three  magistracies  forming  what  was  called  a 
career  of  office  —  cursus  honorum.  The  office  of  curule 
aedile  was  often  held  between  the  quaestorship  and  the 
praetorship,  but  it  was  not  a  necessary  grade  in  the 
cursus  honorum.  The  year  70  B.C.  that  brought  to 
Cicero  the  case  against  Verres,  because  of  his  quaestor- 

Curule aedile  ship  in  Sicily,  also  brought  to  him  the  office  of  curule 
aedile,5  whose  chief  duties  involved,  with  three  colleagues, 
the  general  superintendence  of  the  city  police,  the  regu- 
lation of  the  games,  and  the  care  of  the  temples  and  other 
public  buildings.  He  speaks  in  his  oration  against 
Verres  (V)  of  the  duties  he  is  soon  to  perform  as  aedile 

—  expensive  duties  involving  public  games,  the  burden 
of  which,  Plutarch  tells  us,  his  grateful  Sicilian  clients 
materially  lightened. 

Some  years  before  this  time,  certainly  it  would  seem 
after  his  return  from  the  East  in  77  B.C.,  Cicero  had 
married  Terentia,  the  date  of  the  marriage  or  even  that 
of  the  birth  of  the  eldest  child  being  in  doubt.  Terentia 
was  evidently  a  lady  of  good  family,  possessed  of  some 
fortune  over  which  she  never  surrendered  her  control. 
It  seems  that  in  the  year  73  B.C.  her  half-sister  Fabia, 
who  was  a  Vestal,  was  brought  to  trial,  it  being  alleged 
that  Catiline  was  her  accepted  lover.6  Plutarch,  who 
puts  her  dowry  at  100,000  drachmas,  says  Terentia  was 
a  woman  of  violent  temper;  and  Niebuhr  makes  the 
equally  unsupported  statement  that  — 

....  in  his  marriage  Cicero  was  not  happy.     His  wife  was  a 

domineering  and  disagreeable  woman ;  and  as,  owing  to  his  great 

sensibility,  he  allowed  himself  to  be  very  much  influenced  by  those 

B  Cf.  Mommsen  {Staatsr.,  vol.  ii,  p.  482)  as  to  the  conditions  of  eligibility 
to  the  office;  Enc.  Brit.  (9th  ed.),  art.  "Rome,"  pp.  764  sq. 
6  Ascon.  on  In  toga  cand.,  pp.  92-93   Orelli. 


Terentia 
and  her 
half-sister 
Fabia. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN 


157 


around  him,  his  wife  also  exercised  great  power  over  him,  which  is 
the  more  remarkable  because  he  had  no  real  love  for  her.7 

In  68  B.C.,  the  year  in  which  his  correspondence  with 
Atticus  begins,  we  hear  for  the  first  time  of  Cicero's  villa 
above  Tusculum,  a  sort  of  Roman  suburb,  where  leading 
statesmen  like  Pompey,  Lucullus,  Scaurus,  Hortensius, 
and  others  could  combine  the  society  of  the  town  with 
the  charms  of  the  country.  After  congratulating  his 
friend  upon  his  recent  purchase  of  an  estate  in  Epirus, 
near  Buthrotum,  he  begs  him  to  get  anything  suitable 
for  his  own  Tusculan  villa  —  "in  that  place  alone  do  I 
find  rest  and  repose  from  all  my  troubles  and  toil." 
Then,  after  a  reference  to  Terentia's  rheumatism,  the 
letter  closes  with  her  compliments  and  those  of  his  darling 
(deliciae  nostrae)  Tulliola  to  Atticus,  his  sister,  and  his 
mother.  The  last  words  are,  "Be  assured  that  I  love 
you  like  a  brother."  8  Not  until  the  year  6$  B.C.  was 
Cicero's  only  son  Marcus  born,  a  fact  he  announces  in 
a  letter  to  Atticus  in  this  cold  and  laconic  way:  "Know 
that  in  the  consulship  of  Caesar  and  Figulus  I  have  had 
an  increase  to  my  family  by  the  birth  of  a  son,  and 
Terentia  is  doing  well."  9 

From  that  time  onward  the  only  expansion  that  took 
place  in  his  family  was  expressed  in  the  ever-growing 
number  of  his  residences  in  town  and  country.  Apart 
from  the  cradle  spot  at  Arpinum,  which  came  to  him  by 
inheritance,  and  the  recently  purchased  retreat  near  Tus- 
culum, the  most  important  of  his  villas  were  situated 

7  History  of  Rome,  vol.  v,  p.  20. 

8  Ad  Ait.,  i,  1.  This  letter  opens  the  correspondence  with  Atticus  when 
Cicero  was  in  his  thirty-ninth  year  and  in  the  midst  of  his  official  career. 
He  had  been  already  quaestor  (75  B.C.)  and  aedile  (69  B.C.),  and  was 
looking  forward  to  the  praetorship  in  the  next  year  (67  B.C.). 

9  "L.  Julio  Caesare,  C.  Marcio  Figulo  consulibus  filiolo  me  auctum  scito, 
salva  Terentia." — Ibid.,  \,  21. 


Villa  above 
Tusculum. 


Birth  of 
Marcus. 


Increase  in 
number  of 
residences. 


158 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


House  on 
the  Palatine 


on  the  western  coast  of  Italy  near  the  towns  of  Antium, 
Astura,  Sinuessa,  Formiae,  Cumae,  Puteoli,  and  Pom- 
peii. Not  until  62  B.C.,  the  year  after  his  consulship,  did 
he  purchase  the  Palatine  mansion10  in  the  Belgravia  of 
Rome  from  its  richest  citizen,  Crassus,  with  whom  his 
political  relations  had  been  unfriendly.11 

As  he  boasts  that  he  never  received  fees  for  his  labors 
as  an  advocate,  the  sources  of  his  wealth  involve  a  per- 
plexing problem.  Certainly  his  services  as  a  lawyer 
were  sought  far  and  wide.  He  said  in  one  of  his  letters 
to  Atticus  that  he  was  the  "leader  of  the  wealthy,"  and 
we  know  that  he  sometimes  numbered  in  his  clientele 
foreign  kings  and  commonwealths.  The  fact  is,  that  by 
Cicero's  time  the  law  forbidding  an  advocate  to  receive 
Professional  rewards  for  his  services  was  practically  obsolete.  Fees 
income.  were  paid  him,  but  they  were  called  presents.12     Some- 

times such  presents  came  in  the  form  of  legacies  be- 
queathed by  grateful  clients,  or  by  the  parents  of  such 
clients.  In  44  B.C.,  long  after  his  active  career  had  ter- 
minated, Cicero  reported  a  total  of  bequests  amounting 
to  twenty  million  sesterces,  estimated  at  about  £178,000, 
or  $88o,ooo.13 

Despite  the  number  of  his  residences,  which  neces- 
sarily imply  a  very  large  income,  thoughts  of  Cicero's 
Home  life  at  domestic  life  naturally  cluster  around  his  villa  at  Tuscu- 
lum,  modeled  in  miniature  after  the  Academy  at  Athens, 
with  its  palaestra,  or  exercise  ground,  its  gymnasium,  and 
its  xystus  (a  corridor  with  open  pillars),  where  he  passed 

10  It  seems  that  at  this  time  he  made  over  the  house  in  the  Carinae,  which 
he  had  inherited  from  his  father,  to  his  brother  Quintius.  —  Plut.,  Cic,  viii. 

11  As  to  the  loan  of  two  million  sesterces  fiom  P.   Sulla,  then  under 
indictment,  see  Gell.,  xii,  12,  1. 

12  See  below,  p.  195. 

13  Cicero,  Philippicae,  ii,  40:  "Ego  enim  amplius  sestertium  ducenties 
acceptum  haereditatibus   retuli." 


Tusculum. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN 


159 


so  many  happy  days  In  sweet  and  useful  mental  com- 
munion with  his  other  self,  Atticus.     That  friend  he  was 
ever  urging  to  send  him  more  books,  regardless  of  ex- 
pense, for  his  library,  his  ruling  passion,  which  he  said 
gave  a  soul  to  his  house  when  arranged  by  his  librarian, 
Tyrannic14     That  member  of  his  household,   a  distin-   Tyrannio. 
guished  Greek  grammarian,  was  secured  in  $6  B.C.  as  a 
domestic  tutor  for  his  nephew  Quintus.     And  here  men- 
tion should  be  made  of  Cicero's  favorite  freedman,  Tiro,    Tiro,  stenog- 
private  secretary,  stenographer,  and  general  right-hand    "JL^and 
man,  whose  speed  in  taking  dictation  was  remarkable.15    man. 
In  one  of  his  letters  Cicero  says  that  he  can  write  nothing 
without  him.     After  his  manumission  Tiro,16  according 
to  custom,  assumed  the  name  of  Marcus  Tullius;  and, 
after  the  death  of  his  benefactor,  wrote  a  life  of  him, 
and  published  his  letters  and  speeches. 

The  master  of  the  Tusculan  villa,  the  leader  of  the 
Roman  bar,  who  had  been  both  quaestor  and  curule 
aedile,  must  next  win  the  praetorship,  in  order  to  qualify  The 
himself  for  the  goal  of  his  ambition,  the  consulship.  praetors  ip- 
After  Sulla's  time  there  were  eight  praetors,  that  number 
being  required  for  the  presidency  of  the  civil  and  crim- 
inal courts  at  Rome,  the  special  functions  of  the  praetors 
being  always  assigned  by  lot  (sortitio).17     Strange  as  it 

14  Ad  Att.,  iv,  4,  Cicero  writes:  "You  will  find  that  Tyrannio  has  made 
a  wonderfully  good  arrangement  of  my  books,  the  remains  of  which  are 
better  than  I  had  expected.  Still,  I  wish  you  would  send  me  a  couple  of 
your  library  slaves  for  Tyrannio  to  employ  as  gluers,  and  in  other  sub- 
ordinate work,  and  tell  them  to  get  some  fine  parchment  to  make  titlepieces, 
which  you  Greeks,  I  think,  call  sillybi." 

15  See  above,  p.  79. 

18  See  the  letter  of  congratulation  to  Tiro  from  Cicero's  brother  Quintus, 
Ad  Fam.,  xvi,  26. 

17  During  the  period  when  some  of  the  praetors  governed  provinces,  a 
regular  sortitio  took  the  form  of  an  assignment  of  the  two  urban  provinciae 
to  two,  and  of  the  foreign  provinces  to  two  and  afterward  to  four  members 
of  the  college.  —  Greenidge,  Roman  Public  Life,  p.  204. 


elections. 


160  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

may  seem  to  us,  the  praetor  was  primarily  a  great  states- 
man or  politician  whose  final  function  it  was  to  enforce 
the  law.  He  was  not  necessarily  a  legal  expert,  as  he 
looked  for  light  and  leading  to  the  jurisconsults,  who 
instructed  him  upon  technical  questions  through  their 
res  pons  a  prudentium.16 

It  is  therefore  natural  that  this  great  political  office 
had  to  be  sought  at  the  hands  of  the  people  assembled 
in  their  comitia,  and  we  know  from  a  letter  from  Cicero 
to  Atticus  that  a  canvass  for  such  an  office  brought  the 
candidate  into  contact,  in  his  time,  with  all  forms  of 
Venality  in  venality,19  a  condition  of  things  which  he  says  was  grow- 
ing worse  with  startling  rapidity.  To  remedy  such  evils 
the  Calpurnian  reform  bill,  brought  forward  by  the  trib- 
une Cornelius,  was  passed,  providing  that  candidates  who 
bribed  were  to  forfeit  not  only  the  office  gained  but 
their  seat  in  the  Senate.20  That  measure,  coupled  with 
the  proposal  of  Gabinius  to  invest  Pompey  with  supreme 
command  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  another  by  Otho  to 
assign  separate  rows  of  seats  in  the  theatres  to  the  eques- 
trian order,  caused  such  popular  tumults  during  the  elec- 
tion held  in  the  year  67  B.C.  that  the  comitia  for  the 
election  of  praetors  was  twice  adjourned  without  a  defi- 
nite result.  In  the  midst  of  it  all  "nobody  is  kept  in 
such  perturbation  at  Rome  at  the  present  time  as  the 
candidates,  by  every  sort  of  unreasonable  demands." 
Through  it  all  Cicero,  who  had  seven  competitors,  stood 
at  the  head  of  the  poll,  and  was  thus  elected  when  the 
third  attempt  at  an  election  was  successful. 

18  See  above,  p.  69. 

19  Ad  Att.,  i,  11:  "Scito  nihil  tarn  exercitatum  esse  nunc  Romae  quam 
candidatos  omnibus  iniquitatibus."  The  comitia  was  twice  postponed  this 
year,  evidently  after  the  voting  for  Cicero  had  been  completed.  He  was 
therefore  able  to  say  that  he  was  "thrice  returned  at  the  head  of  the  poll 
by  a  unanimous  vote"  (De  Imp.  Pomp.,  §2).  20  Dio,  xxxvi,  38. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN 


161 


Cicero  as- 
signed the 
court  for  ex- 
tortion in  the 
provinces. 


When  he  was  inaugurated  as  praetor,  January  i, 
66  B.C.,  he  was  assigned  the  court  with  jurisdiction  over 
extortion  in  the  provinces  (mea  de  pecuniis  repetundis), 
and  in  that  way  the  new  judge  was  called  upon  to  preside 
at  the  trial  of  C.  Licinius  Macer,21  who  was  charged 
with  oppression  and  extortion  while  holding  the  praeto- 
rian government  of  Asia  Minor.  Despite  his  relations 
with  Crassus,  who  supported  him,  Macer  was  convicted; 
and  it  is  said  that  he  destroyed  himself,  even  before  the 
judices  could  render  a  formal  judgment  against  him. 

But  Cicero's  most  notable  performance  during  his 
praetorian  year  was  his  defense  of  the  bill  of  Manilius 
to  name  a  successor  to  Lucullus  in  the  eastern  campaign 
against  Mithridates,  it  being  understood  of  course  that 
Cnaeus  Pompey,  now  at  the  height  of  his  fame,  would  be 
appointed.  This  was  Cicero's  first  political  speech,  the 
first  ever  addressed  to  the  people  directly.  He  therefore 
said  at  the  outset: 

Although,  O  Romans,  your  numerous  assembly  has  always 
seemed  to  me  the  most  agreeable  body  that  anyone  can  address,  and 
this  place,  which  is  most  honorable  to  plead  in,  has  also  seemed 
always  the  most  distinguished  place  for  delivering  an  oration,  still 
I  have  been  prevented  from  trying  this  road  to  glory,  which  has  at 
all  times  been  entirely  open  to  every  virtuous  man,  not  indeed  by 
my  own  will,  but  by  the  system  of  life  which  I  have  adopted  from 
my  earliest  years.22 

As  the  extraordinary  law  in  question,  carrying  with  it 
the  sea  power,  was  at  once  repugnant  to  the  republican 
institutions  of  Rome  and  the  established  authority  of  the 
Senate,  the  aristocracy,  the  optimates,  led  by  Hortensius   jjor^nsius7 
and  Catulus,  naturally  opposed  it.    But  the  public-spirited    and  Catulus. 


The  Manil- 


First  polit- 
ical speech. 


21  Ad  Att.,  i.  4;  Plut.,  ix;  Val.  Max.,  ix,  12. 

22  Cicero,  Pro  Lege  Manilla,  1. 


l62 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Noble  tribute 
to  Pompey. 


Cicero 
succeeded 
by  the  aid 
of  Caesar. 


lawyer  who  now  entered  the  arena  of  imperial  politics 
had  not  yet  announced  himself  as  the  champion  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  Senate;  he  was  full  of  political  ambition, 
and  eager  for  the  support  of  those  "who  held  the  assem- 
blies." He  was  born  a  member  of  the  equestrian  class, 
and  the  knights,  whose  business  interests  in  Asia  were 
seriously  endangered  by  the  war,  were  eager  for  Pompey 
to  take  command,  so  great  was  their  confidence  in  his 
ability  as  a  soldier.  Cicero  therefore  moved  cautiously 
amid  the  difficult  problems  before  him,  dealing  tactfully 
with  Lucullus,  and  at  the  same  time  paying  a  noble 
tribute  to  Pompey: 

No  feeling  of  avarice  ever  turned  him  aside  from  his  destined 
course  to  think  of  booty;  no  licentiousness  attracted  him  to  pleas- 
ure; no  delights  to  self-indulgence;  curiosity  never  tempted  him 
to  explore  cities,  however  famous;  and  in  the  midst  of  toil  he 
shunned  repose I  am  not  doing  this  at  the  request  of  any- 
one, nor  because  I  think  to  conciliate  the  favour  of  Cnaeus  Pom- 
peius  by  taking  this  side,  nor  in  order,  through  the  greatness  of 
anyone  else,  to  seek  for  myself  protection  against  dangers,  or  aids 
in  the  acquirement  of  honors;  ....  I  assure  you  that  I  have 
undertaken  wholly  for  the  sake  of  the  Republic.23 

This  first  performance  took  place  in  a  contio,  a  meet- 
ing that  could  be  called  by  any  magistrate  who  had  a 
matter  to  lay  before  the  people,  and  was  regularly  held 
in  the  Comitium  or  the  Forum.  After  a  proposition  of 
law  (rogatio)  had  been  offered,  such  a  meeting  was  called 
so  that  the  voters  could  hear  the  arguments  pro  and  con, 
after  which,  at  the  same  or  a  subsequent  occasion,  the 
comitia  voted  yes  or  no  on  the  bill  at  a  meeting  regularly 
called  for  that  purpose.  Cicero,  who,  strangely  enough, 
was  supported  by  Caesar,  succeeded  in  his  effort  to  vest 


23  Pro  Lege  Manil.,  xiv,  24. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN 


163 


the  supreme  command  in  Pompey,  who,  after  ending  the    Supreme 
war  in  the  East  and  organizing  the  Roman  power  in  that  ^TtedTn 
quarter,  returned  in  the  year  61  B.C.  covered  with  greater   Pompey. 
glory  than  had  ever  been  won  by  any  Roman  before  him. 
With  the  progress  of  expansion  it  became  the  custom 
to  entrust  the  government  of  conquered  provinces  to  pro- 
consuls and  propraetors.    All  provinces  were  so  governed 
after  the  time  of  Sulla,  one  of  his  laws  providing  that 
consuls  and  praetors,  immediately  after  the  expiration  of 
their  term  of  office  in  the  city,  should  depart  for  their 
provinces.     But  so  set  was  Cicero's  heart  on  the  consul- 
ship that  he  did  not  avail  himself  of  that  right  at  the  end 
of  his  praetorship;  he  deemed  it  more  prudent  to  remain 
at  home  so  as  to  keep  himself  before  the  people. 

In  the  year  65  B.C.  his  memorable  canvass  for  the  con- 
sulship began,  the  announcement  of  his  candidacy  being 
made  at  the  comitia  tributa  held  for  the  election  of  trib- 
unes, on  July  17.     An  electioneering  document  known  as 
Epistola  de  Petitione  Consulatus,  addressed  to  Cicero  in 
the  form  of  a  letter  or  monograph  prepared  by  his  brother 
Quintus,  probably  with  the  assistance  of  Atticus  then  in 
Rome,  explains  in  an  unusually  vivid  way  electioneering 
tactics  as  they  were  practiced  at  that  time  in  such  contests. 
The  obvious  purpose  of  this  appeal  was  to  belittle  Cicero's 
opponents,  and  at  the  same  time  to  place  him  in  the  most 
favorable  light  possible  before  the  electorate.     While  it 
admitted  that  he  was  a  new  man,  it  asserted  that  he  pos- 
sessed all  that  could  be  achieved  by  reflection,  experience, 
and  native  endowments.    An  orator  so  distinguished  as  to 
have  ex-consuls  for  clients  certainly  should  be  worthy  of 
consular  honors.      He  was  commended   for   supporting 
Pompey  for  command  in  the  East,  for  undertaking  the 
cause  of  Manilius,  and  above  all  for  his  splendid  defense 


Canvass  for 
the  consul- 
ship began 
in  65  B.C. 


De  Petitione 
Consulatus. 


1 64 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


The 
divisor es. 


Seven  consu- 
lar candi- 
dates in 
the  field. 


Antonius 
and  Catiline 
backed  by 
Crassus  and 
Caesar. 


of  the  ex-tribune  Cornelius,  who  had  offended  the  Senate 
by  proposing  a  law  in  the  highest  degree  equitable.  The 
writer  concluded  with  an  expression  of  the  hope  that 
agents  of  electoral  bribery  (divisores)  would  in  this  can- 
vass be  kept  within  proper  limits,  if  there  was  to  be  any 
expenditure  of  money  at  all. 

There  was  at  this  time  at  Rome  a  grave  condition  of 
economic  unrest,  of  social  discontent,  aggravated  by  the 
gross  disparity  of  conditions  between  the  enormously 
wealthy  province-robbing  aristocracy  and  the  bankrupt 
landlords  and  merchants  of  Italy,  the  disappointed  and 
desperate  outcasts  from  all  classes  of  society  among  whom 
the  popular  party  was  now  seeking  support.  The  battle 
was  on  between  the  ins  and  the  outs,  between  the  privi- 
leged few  and  the  suffering  many. 

Seven  candidates  for  the  consulship  were  in  the  field: 
two  nobles,  Galba  and  Sacerdos;  Conficius  and  Longi- 
nus,  who  were  out  of  the  running;  Caius  Antonius,  wh( 
had  held  a  command  under  Sulla;  Catiline  and  Cicero.    Ii 
the  latter  ever  intended  to  join  forces  with  Catiline,  Cra; 
sus  and  Caesar  were  too  quick  for  him;  they  made  term* 
with  Antonius  and  Catiline  and  put  them  forward  as  can- 
didates of  the  popular  party.24     As  such  they  agreed  to] 
unite  their  forces  by  making  what  the  Romans  called  a 
coitio,  "a  going  together."    Alarmed  by  such  a  combina- 
tion, the  conservatives   resolved  to  unite  in  support  of 
Cicero  who,  disgusted  with  democratic  excesses,  promptly 
consented  to  become  their  candidate. 

In  the  face  of  the  preparations  that  followed  for  the 
purchase  by  Catiline  and  Antonius  of  the  consular  elec- 

24  Catiline,  with  his  unsleeping  energy  and  bitterness  against  the  con- 
servatives, and  Antonius,  who  was  too  unprincipled  and  too  penurious  to  j 
reject  a  golden  opportunity,  were  exactly  the  instruments  they  needed. — 
Ferrero,  Greatness  and  Decline  of  Rome,  vol.  i,  p.  226. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN  165 

tion  through  the  employment  of  systematic  bribery  and 
corruption  of  every  kind,  to  be  extended,  of  course,  be- 
yond the  Roman  populace  to  the  new  voters  from  the  Ital- 
ian towns,  the  Senate  adopted  a  resolution  suggesting  that 
a  statute  against  corrupt  practices,  more  stringent  than    New  statute 
the  Calpurnian,  should  be  submitted  to  the  electorate.    At    cornet 
the  moment  when  the  great  council  was  aroused  to  anger    practices, 
by  the  defeat,  through  a  tribune's  veto,  of  that  honest 
effort  at  reform,  Cicero  arose,  only  a  few  days  before  the 
election,  and  assailed  his  two  principal  competitors  in  a    Speech, 
speech  known  as  "the  oration  in  the  white  robe,"  25  be-   ™»<//«L. 
cause  as  a  candidate  he  wore,  according  to  custom,  a  white 
toga,  emblematic  no  doubt  of  a  pure  election. 

From  the  fragments  of  this  speech,  preserved  by  Asco- 
nius,  it  appears  "that  on  the  night  before,  Catiline  and 
Antonius  with  their  agents  met  at  the  house  of  some  man 
of  noble  birth,  one  very  well  known  from,  and  habituated 
to,  gains  derived  from  this  sort  of  liberality"  —  meaning, 
no  doubt,  as  Asconius  thinks,  either  the  house  of  Caesar 
or  Crassus,  "for  they  were  the  most  eager  adversaries  of 
Cicero,  out  of  jealousy  at  the  influence  which  he  had 
acquired  among  the  citizens." 

It  is  certainly  reasonable  to  suppose  that  both  were 
anxious,   while  Pompey  was   far  away  in  the  East,   to 
strengthen  their  personal  hold  upon  affairs  by  placing 
creatures  of  their  own  in  the  consular  offices.     After  ques- 
tioning the  power  of  the  tribune  Orestinus,  whom  Cicero 
had  defended  in  a  criminal  trial,  to  oppose  the  veto  to  the 
reform  bill  just  mentioned,  he  poured  upon  Catiline  and   Bitter  at- 
Antonius  a  stream  of  hot  invectives  that  excited,  no  doubt,    cariHneand 
in  the  former,  the  bitter  hatred  which  prompted  him  to    Antonius. 
make,  shortly  afterward,  an  attempt  upon  the  orator's 

25  Lange,  vol.  iii,  p.  232. 


i66 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Revives  the 
memory  of 
Fabia. 


How  a  con- 
sular elec- 
tion was 
conducted. 


Vote  taken 
by  groups. 


life.  After  speaking  scornfully  of  Catiline's  acquittal  on 
the  charge  of  extortion  in  Africa,  he  revived  the  mem- 
ory of  the  infamous  accusation  as  to  the  Vestal  Fabia, 
saying: 

Have  you  this  dignity  which  you  rely  on,  and,  therefore, 
despise  and  scorn  me?  or  that  other  dignity,  which  you  have 
acquired  by  all  the  rest  of  your  life?  when  you  have  lived  in  such 
a  manner  that  there  was  no  place  so  holy,  that  your  presence  did 
not  bring  suspicion  of  criminality  into  it,  even  when  there  was 
no  guilt.26 

Such  was  the  stormy  prelude  to  the  election  that 
occurred  in  the  summer  of  64  B.C.  when  the  comitia 
centuriata  met  in  the  Campus  Martius  to  determine  who 
were  to  be  the  consuls  for  the  succeeding  year.  After  the 
people  had  been  arranged  in  their  centuries  it  was  deter- 
mined by  lot  which  century  should  vote  first. 

Each  individual  votes  in  the  group  to  which  he  belongs,  curia, 
centuria,  or  tribus,  as  the  case  may  be;  and  it  is  by  the  majority  of 
curies,  centuries,  or  tribes  that  the  decision  of  the  assembly  as  a 
whole  is  given,  the  collective  voice  of  each  of  the  groups  being 
reckoned  as  one  vote,  and  a  small  group  having  as  much  weight  as 
a  large  one.27 

In  such  an  assembly  at  Rome  the  vote  of  the  entire 
body  was  taken  by  groups,  just  as  in  an  American  conven- 
tion the  vote  of  the  entire  body  may  be  taken  by  delega- 
tions. The  people  were  assembled  in  an  enclosure,  and  — 
....  the  enclosure  was  deemed  large  enough  to  hold  all  the 
privileged  citizens,  although  where  such  space  could  be  found  on 
the  Capitol  or  in  the  Forum  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  Roman 
topography.  This  enclosure  was  divided  longitudinally  into  as 
many  compartments  (consaepta)  as  there  were  voting  divisions. 
Each  division  was  connected  with  the  magistrate's  tribunal  through 
a  gallery  (pons)  running  the  whole  length  of  the  enclosure,  this 

26  In  Toga  Candida,  Frag.  Ascon. 

27  Bryce,  Studies  in  Hist,  and  Jur.,  p.  711. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN 


167 


high  gallery  being  connected  with   the  various  voting  compart-    Issue  decided 
ments  by  separate  descending  pontes.    The  votes  in  each  compart-    °y       vote 
ment  were  taken  singly,  and  were  given  at  the  exits  of  the  various 
pontes The  issue  was  decided  by  the  vote  of  the  groups.28 

When  all  the  members  of  a  century  had  voted,  the  tick- 
ets were  taken  out  of  the  urns  by  scrutineers,  the  numbers 
entered  on  tablets,  and  the  result  announced,  the  majority 
of  the  individual  votes  determining  the  vote  of  the  cen- 
tury, and  a  majority  of  the  centuries  determining  the  elec- 
tion.    In  the  comitia  centuriata,  which,  because  originally 
a  military  organization,  could  only  be  convened  outside 
of  the  city  in  the  Campus  Martius,  the  result  might  be 
reached  before  all  the  centuries  were  called  on  to  vote, 
because  as  each  vote  was  proclaimed  immediately  after 
the  group  had  given  it,  the  necessary  majority  might  be 
obtained  before  all  the  groups  had  voted.     So  great  was  Cicero  car- 
Cicero's  popularity,  that  the  electors,  instead  of  resorting   thirty_five 
to  the  ballot,  proclaimed  him  consul  by  loud  and  unani-   tribes, 
mous  shouts  —  he  carried  all  the  thirty-five  tribes. 

But  here  the  fact  should  not  be  forgotten  that  while 
the  redistribution  of  the  centuries  in  its  final  form  assumed 
the  existence  of  thirty-five  tribes,  there  was  no  tribal  vote; 
the  unit  of  voting  was  still  the  century,  and  it  was  the 
number  of  the  centuries  that  decided  the  question. 
Cicero's  record  was  clean,  and  the  great  middle  class,  who 
were  solidly  behind  him,  desired  to  see  one  of  their  own 
order,  a  "new  man"  (novus  homo),  raised  to  the  consul- 
ship. During  the  three  preceding  generations,  the  only 
"new  man"  who  had  reached  that  august  station  was  his 
fellow-townsman,  Marius,  whose  habit  of  being  reelected 
consul  became  a  kind  of  disease. 

When  Cicero  actually  reached  the  lonely  eminence  to 

28  Greenidge,  Roman  Public  Life,  pp.  258-59. 


A  "new  man" 
raised  to  the 
consulate. 


i68 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Assumed 
office  as  con- 
sul January  i, 
63  B.C. 


A  radical 
lex  agraria. 


Inaugural 
delivered 
in  Senate. 


A  bold  ap- 
peal to  the 
people. 


which  he  had  so  long  aspired,  he  solemnly  assured  a 
crowded  Senate  on  the  very  day  he  assumed  office,  Janu- 
ary 1,  63  B.C.,  that  he  would  seek  "neither  a  province  nor 
honor  nor  equipment  whatsoever,  nor  advantage  nor  any- 
thing at  all  which  a  tribune  of  the  people  could  oppose." 
His  further  assurance  was,  "I  will,  Conscript  Fathers,  so 
demean  myself  in  this  magistracy  as  to  be  able  to  chastise 
the  tribunes  if  they  are  at  enmity  with  the  Republic,  and 
despise  them  if  they  are  at  enmity  with  myself."  The 
grave  reason  for  that  prompt  announcement  is  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  during  the  month  of  December  the  tribune 
Rullus  had  published  a  complicated  and  revolutionary 
lex  agraria,  the  first  one  of  a  troublesome  kind  since  the 
tribunate  of  Drusus  twenty-eight  years  before,  the  pur- 
pose of  which  was  to  appoint  ten  commissioners  with  abso- 
lute power  for  five  years  over  all  the  revenues  and  forces 
of  the  Republic.  The  decemviri  were  to  be  authorized  to 
distribute  the  revenues  at  pleasure  to  the  citizens;  to  sell 
and  buy  what  lands  they  saw  fit;  to  require  an  account  of 
all  generals  abroad,  except  Pompey,  of  the  spoils  taken  in 
their  wars ; 29  and  to  settle  colonies  wherever  they  thought 
proper,  especially  at  Capua.30 

The  primary  purpose  of  Cicero's  inaugural  speech  was 
to  assure  the  Senate  that  he  would  oppose  such  a  law  and 
its  promoters  to  the  utmost  of  his  power;  and  a  few  days 
later  he  came  into  the  assembly  of  the  people  where  he 
gave  to  his  policy  of  opposition  greater  elaboration.  The 
sudden  boldness  with  which  he  thus  appealed  directly  to 
the  people  themselves  on  this  agrarian  question  was 
equaled  by  the  consummate  art  with  which  he  played  upon 

29  They  were  even  authorized  to  use  the  money  thus  realized  from  the 
generals  for  the  purchase  of  land  in  Italy  to  be  distributed  among  the  poor. 
Cf.  Driimann,  G.  R.,  vol.  iii,  pp.  148-49. 

30  See  Plutarch's  summary,  xii. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN 


169 


Extracts 
from  second 
speech. 


their  feelings  when  he  told  them  that  Rullus  was  about  to 
give  them  ten  royal  masters  armed  with  the  power  to 
enrich  themselves  without  limit  out  of  the  public  treasury. 
After  saying: 

I  cannot  find  fault  with  the  general  principle  of  an  agrarian 
law,  for  it  occurs  to  my  mind  that  two  most  illustrious  men,  two 
most  able  men,  two  men  most  thoroughly  attached  to  the  Roman 
people,  Tiberius  and  Caius  Gracchus,  established  the  people  in 
public  domains  which  had  previously  been  occupied  by  private  indi- 
viduals, therefore,  [he  added]  I  applied  myself  to  the  consideration 
of  this  law  with  the  hope  that  I  would  find  it  so  designed  as  to 
promote  your  interests,  and  such  an  one  as  a  consul  who  was  really, 
not  in  word  only,  devoted  to  the  people,  might  honestly  and  cheer- 
fully advocate.  But  from  the  first  clause  of  the  proposed  law  to 
the  last,  O  Romans,  I  find  nothing  else  thought  of,  nothing  else 
intended,  nothing  else  aimed  at,  but  to  appoint  ten  kings  to  the 
treasury  of  the  revenues,  of  all  the  provinces,  of  the  whole  of  the 
Republic,  of  the  kingdoms  allied  with  us,  of  the  free  nations 
confederated  with  us  —  ten  lords  of  the  whole  world,  under  the 
pretense  and  name  of  an  agrarian  law.81 

After  another  such  speech  in  answer  to  calumnies  with    Law 
which  the  mute  tribunes  assailed  him  behind  his  back,  they 
abandoned  the  whole  matter.32    The  new  consul  had  won 
what  Niebuhr  calls  "one  of  the  most  brilliant  achieve- 
ments of  eloquence." 

Upon  the  heels  of  that  performance  he  was  called  upon 

to  deal  with  another  proposal  put  forward  by  a  tribune 

designed  to  restore  full  political  rights  to  the  children  of    Pefeatof  a 
.  .  .  law  to  re- 

men  proscribed  by  Sulla,33  who,  in  execution  of  his  policy   store  political 

of  vengeance,  had  confiscated  their  property  and  decreed    "ght9*°*°"e 

0  r      r        *  proscribed 

that  their  descendants  should  be  disqualified  even  from    by  Sulla. 

31  De  Lege  Agr.,  11,  5,  6. 

32  Cicero  so  enthralled  the  multitude  that  "They  gave  up  to  him  the 
Agrarian  Law,  that  is  to  say,  their  own  bread."  —  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.,  vii, 
30,  116. 

33  Dio,  xxxvii,  25. 


170 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


How  Cicero 
quelled  a 
riot  by  his 
tact  and 
eloquence. 


Grim  and 
irresistible 
good  humor. 


becoming  candidates  for  office.  As  there  was  danger  of 
internicine  strife  resulting  from  such  a  restoration  of  civil 
status,  just  as  it  might  be,  Cicero  made  so  tactful  a  speech 
in  opposition  that  the  claimants  themselves  were  induced 
to  abandon  the  agitation.  Then,  in  an  equally  remark- 
able manner,  he  was  able  to  quell  a  threatened  riot  which 
began  when  Otho,  the  author  of  the  law  providing  that 
certain  rows  of  seats  at  public  games  or  plays  should  be 
reserved  for  members  of  the  equestrian  class,  was  greeted 
upon  entering  the  theatre  by  applause  from  the  knights 
and  by  a  storm  of  hisses  from  the  common  people.  Cicero, 
entering  at  that  moment,  invited  the  crowd  to  follow  him 
to  the  neighboring  temple  of  Bellona  from  the  steps  of 
which  he  made  to  them  an  extempore  speech,  unfortu- 
nately lost,  which  so  completely  pacified  them  that,  after 
their  return  to  the  play,  all  factions  joined  in  applauding 
the  man  they  were  on  the  point  of  mobbing.  There  must 
have  been  grim  and  irresistible  good  humor  in  the  speech 
because,  from  the  hint  of  it  we  derive  from  Macrobius, 
it  appears  that  the  orator  upbraided  them  all  for  making 
such  a  noise  when  Roscius  was  acting. 

Such  performances  as  these  forced  Pliny34  to  exclaim 
that  Cicero  was  the  first  to  win  a  civil  triumph  and  the 
"laurels  of  the  tongue."  Surely  "Some  force  of  sweet 
persuasion  sat  upon  his  lips."  35  Is  it  fair  to  say  that  a 
statesman  who  won  three  such  victories  in  rapid  succes- 
sion, by  the  direct  assertion  of  almost  mesmeric  power 
over  the  people  themselves,  was  not  a  man  of  action? 
And  yet  such  is  the  verdict  of  one  of  the  masters  who  has 
drawn  a  picture  of  him  otherwise  faultless,  as  he  appeared 
at  this  time : 

34  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.,  vii,  30. 

35  As  Eupolis  of  Pericles,  so  of  him  too  one  might  have  used  the  same 
commendatory  line,  ireidd>  tis  eirei<a6r)To  rolai  x^Xeo'"'.  —  Sihler,  p.  136. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN  171 

Cicero  was  not  a  man  of  action.  He  was  untouched  by  the  two  Pen-picture 
great  passions,  love  of  money  and  love  of  power,  which  drive  men  °y  Ferrero- 
to  face  the  perils  of  great  social  conflicts.  He  was  an  artist  of  the 
first  rank,  an  incomparable  writer,  a  man  of  delicate  sensibility, 
lively  imagination,  and  strong  and  subtle  intellect,  whose  supreme 
ambition  was  not  to  amass  wealth  or  to  exercise  authority  over  his 
equals,  but  to  win  admiration.  Apart  from  these  great  intellectual 
qualities  and  this  characteristic  ambition,  he  reproduced  the  dis- 
tinctive traits  which  centuries  of  submission  had  imprinted  on  the 
Italian  middle  class  from  which  he  sprang.36 

If  the  swift  and  indomitable  prosecutor  of  Verres,  who  Prosecution 
drove  that  case  to  a  successful  issue  in  the  shortest  time 
possible,  and  in  the  face  of  obstacles  that  seemed  insur- 
mountable, had  not  yet  earned  the  right  to  be  called  "a 
man  of  action,"  the  rarest  of  all  opportunities  to  win  that 
distinction  was  now  before  him.  It  was  no  longer  a  ques- 
tion of  simply  steering  the  bark  in  troubled  waters  —  a 
storm  was  about  to  break  that  was  to  threaten  the  very 
life  of  the  state  itself.  The  first  cloud  was  the  land  bills 
put  forward  by  Rullus,  a  man  of  straw  propelled  by  Cras- 
sus  and  Caesar,  who  tempted  the  disaffected  by  proposing 
to  make  war  upon  the  rich,  to  break  the  bonds  binding  the 
debtor  to  the  creditor,  in  a  word,  to  bring  about  a  general 
redistribution  of  public  and  private  property. 

The  next  democratic  move  against  the  aristocracy  was    Democratic 
the  prosecution  of  the  old  senator  Rabirius  who  was   {heYris-3"18* 
accused  of  having  killed  with  his  own  hands  a  tribune  of   tocracy. 
the  people  thirty-seven  years  before.     The  charge  was 
made  by  Labienus,  an  agent  of  Caesar,37  who  induced  the 
praetor,  also  an  accomplice,  to  send  the  case  before  two 
judges  (duumviri)  of  whom  Caesar  himself  was  one.38 

38  Ferrero,  vol.  i,  p.  230,  who  quotes  Boissier,  Ciceron  et  ses  amis,  p.  38. 

37  Suet.,  Caes.,  xii. 

38  As  to  the  political  significance  of  the  trial,  see  Drumann,  G.  R.,  vol.  iii, 
p.  162;  Mommsen,  R.  G.,  vol.  iii,  p.  169;  Ferrero,  vol.  i,  p.  236. 


172 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Caesar  made 

pontifex 

maximus. 


The  menace 
of  Crassus 
and  Caesar. 


When,  after  his  condemnation  to  death  by  crucifixion, 
Rabirius  appealed  to  the  people,  nothing  helped  him  so 
much  "as  the  bitterness  of  the  judge."  So  stirred  were 
the  conservatives  by  the  audacity  of  Caesar  that  Cicero 
came  forward  as  the  defender  of  Rabirius,  telling  the 
people,  in  an  impassioned  oration,  that  the  real  motive 
of  the  prosecution  was  not  the  head  of  the  accused  but 
the  overthrow  of  established  order,  and  of  the  state 
itself.39  And  yet,  despite  that  appeal,  Rabirius  would 
have  been  condemned  by  the  people  had  it  not  been  for 
the  device  of  a  praetor  who,  in  the  midst  of  hostile  clamor, 
dissolved  the  assembly  by  hauling  down  the  flag  on  the 
Janiculum.40 

Caesar,  who,  from  his  desperate  situation,  had  been 
forced  to  become  a  demagogue,  next  made  a  bold  stroke 
through  which  the  election  of  pontifex  maximus  was  taken 
away  from  the  college  of  pontiffs  and  restored  to  the 
people  by  whose  votes  he  was  made  the  successor  of 
Metellus  Pius,  despite  the  fact  that  he  was  "a  bankrupt 
atheist,  mixed  up  with  all  the  vulgarest  demagogues  in 
Rome."  41  For  that  very  reason  it  was  the  more  neces- 
sary that  he  should  so  hedge  himself  about  as  the  head  of 
the  established  religion  that  no  consul  would  dare  to  make 
way  with  him  under  conditions  incident  to  a  state  of  siege. 
With  Crassus  and  Caesar  thus  aiding  and  abetting  the 
democratic  movement,  whose  avowed  purpose  was  to  pro- 
scribe the  rich  and  to  subvert  for  the  time  being  all  the 
ordinary  guaranties  of  life  and  property,  the  conserva- 
tives, the  people  of  wealth,  rank,  and  privilege,  with 
Cicero  at  their  head,  were  naturally  eager  to  enact  such 

39  Pro  Rab.  Perd.,  ii,  4. 

40  A  signal  in  the  early  days  of  an  attack  of  the  Etruscans,  involving  the 
suspension  of  all  public  business. 

41  Ferrero,  vol.  i,  p.  237. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN 


173 


additional  laws  as  would  prevent  the  electoral  corruption- 
ists  from  placing  in  the  consulship  for  the  next  year  the 
most  dangerous  revolutionist  in  the  state. 

During  the  Italian  war  a  brawny  young  giant,  descended 
from  one  of  the  oldest  and  proudest  of  the  patrician  fam- 
ilies, had  lifted  himself  to  a  bad  eminence  by  the  commis- 
sion of  atrocities  that  excited  horror  even  in  such  times. 
Lucius  Sergius  Catiline  had  brought  himself  into  notice  by   Lucius  Ser- 
killing  his  brother-in-law  with  his  own  hands,  and  by  tor-    glus  Catlline- 
turing  to  death  Marius  Gratidianus,  a  kinsman  of  Cicero,  .  His  offenses 
whose  bloody  head  he   carried  through   the   streets   of    <*sainst 

Cicero* 

Rome.  He  then  cast  upon  the  Vestal  Fabia,  the  sister  of 
Cicero's  wife,  the  dark  shadow  of  a  name  stained  by  every 
sensual  crime.  And  yet  he  was  an  able  man  who  was 
absolutely  fearless,  and  possessed,  as  Cicero  himself  ad- 
mitted, of  certain  attractions.  He  came  out  of  the  Second 
Punic  War  covered  with  wounds,  and  with  the  loss  of  his 
right  hand  whose  place  he  supplied  with  one  of  iron. 

With  such  a  record  behind  him,  he  entered  the  cursus 
honorum,  first  becoming  praetor  and  then  governor  of 
Africa.     When  he  returned  from  that  field  with  money 
enough,  as  he  thought,  to  buy  the  consulship,   Clodius    Impeached 
impeached  him  for  extortion  and  oppression,  which  dis-    forext0r"S 
qualified  him  as  a  candidate  in  the  election  for  the  year    t;°n  and 

65  B.C.  oppression. 

As  he  was  acquitted,  no  such  obstacle  stood  in  his  way 
the  next  year  when  Cicero,  whom  he  regarded  as  a  par- 
venu, crossed  the  path  of  his  ambition.  That  defeat 
by  his  brilliant  rival  only  made  him  the  more  determined 
to  stand  again  in  the  face  of  greater  difficulties,  accentu- 
ated by  the  news  of  the  death  of  Mithridates  which  made 
the  return  of  Pompey  nearer.  His  brother-in-law,  Nepos,  S^°"J ts^ug" 
one  of  his  generals,  had  actually  arrived  and  was  a  pros-   consulship. 


174  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

pective  candidate  for  the  tribunate.42  It  is  not  likely 
that  in  his  second  struggle  Catiline  had  the  support  of 
Crassus  and  Caesar. 

As  the  former  was  the  largest  creditor  in  Rome,  it  is 
hardly  possible  that  he  could  endorse  an  election  pro- 
gramme which  emphatically  promised  a  measure  dispens- 
ing all  debtors  from  paying  their  creditors.  But  such  a 
revolutionary  propaganda  — 

....  found  ardent  and  enthusiastic  supporters  in  the  most  diverse 
quarters  —  among  the  dissipated  youth  and  decadent  aristocracy  o: 
Rome,  among  the  poor  in  all  parts  of  Italy,  even  among  the  middle 
class  of  well-to-do  proprietors,  whom  the  passion  for  speculation 
had  driven  into  debt.  Where  Rullus  had  only  ruffled  the  surface, 
Catiline  moved  society  to  the  depths.43 

Cicero  leader  The  counterblast  to  such  a  menace  was  a  coalition 
an^weakh07  between  tne  respectable  aristocracy  and  the  wealthy 
knights.  knights  who  drew  together  for  the  defense  of  law  anc 

property.  Cicero  as  their  leader  undertook  to  strengthen 
himself  by  purchasing  the  neutrality  of  his  colleague  Anto- 
nius  through  a  transfer  to  him  of  his  province  of  Mace- 
donia, and  the  cause,  by  procuring  a  stringent  addition  to 
the  Calpurnian  law  against  electoral  corruption,  increas- 
ing the  penalties  and  modifying  the  methods  of  voting  to 
the  disadvantage  of  Catiline.  Thus  hampered,  he  was 
Candidates  called  upon  to  face  three  other  candidates  for  the  consul- 
ship—  Murena,  an  ex-general  of  Lucullus,  Silanus,  seconc 
husband  to  the  mother  of  Brutus,  and  Sulpicius,  the  drafts- 
man of  the  new  electoral  bill. 

In  the  midst  of  rumors  that  there  was  to  be  a  genera 
insurrection,  that  Catiline  was  summoning  Sulla's  veterans 
from  Etruria,  that  there  was  to  be  a  wholesale  massacre 
of  the  Senate,44  Cicero  was  receiving  exact  information  as 

42  Plut,  Cat.,  v,  20.     43  Ferrero,  vol.  i,  p.  243.     4i  Plut,  Cic,  xiv. 


for  the 
consulship. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN  175 

to  all  that  was  actually  going  on  from  Fulvia,  a  lady  of 
shady  reputation,  the  mistress  of  Quintus  Curius,  who,  if 
not  a  conspirator  himself,  was  set  as  a  spy  among  those 
who  were.  So  great  was  his  danger  that  the  consul 
brought  from  Reate  in  Sabinum45  to  the  capital  a  body  of 
young  men  for  his  personal  service  and  protection.  At 
such  a  critical  moment  Servius,  the  strongest  of  the  con- 
servative candidates,  who  was  unwilling  to  spend  money  in 
defiance  of  his  own  law,  withdrew  from  the  contest, 
announcing  at  the  same  time  his  intention  to  prosecute 
Murena  for  bribery.  That  scandal  came  upon  the  very 
eve  of  the  elections  which,  according  to  the  soundest  view, 
took  place  in  the  last  days  of  July  or  the  first  days  of 
August.46 

Thus  beset,  Cicero  attempted  "to  piece  out  the  lion's  • 
skin  with  the  fox's"  by  suddenly  convening  the  Senate  on  Senate  sud- 
the  day  before  the  date  fixed  for  the  elections,  solemnly   VenedCon"eve 
demanding  that  the  vote  should  be  postponed  for  several   of  election, 
days  so  that  an  inquiry  might  be  had  into  dangers  threat- 
ening the  life  of  the  state.     On  the  next  day,  after  circu- 
lating all  current  reports  as  to  Catiline's  designs,  he  chal- 
lenged him   to   come   forward   and   speak   for  himself, 
hoping  in  that  way  to  obtain  some  damaging  admission. 
But  that  artifice  failed  when  Catiline  replied  with  laconic 
brusqueness  that — 

....  there  were  two  bodies  of  the  Republic  —  the  one  weak  with 
a  weak  head,  the  other  powerful  without  a  head  —  and  that,  as 
this  last  had  deserved  well  of  him,  it  should  never  want  a  head  as 
long  as  he  lived.47 

45  A  community  of  which  he  was  patronus. — Cicero,  Pro  M.Scauro,  xxvii. 

46  It  was  long  believed  that  the  elections  took  place  in  October,  but  John 
has  shown,  I  think  once  and  for  all,  that  they  took  place  at  the  normal  time, 
at  the  end  of  July  or  the  beginning  of  August.  —  C.  John,  Die  Entstehungs- 
geschichte  der  Catilinarischen  Verschivbrung,  pp.  750-55;  Ferrero,  vol.  i, 
p.  249,  note  f. 

47  Pro  Mur.,  25,  51 ;  Plut.,  Cic,  xiv.   Cf.  John,  op.  cit.,  p.  750. 


176 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero  pre- 
sided in  as- 
sembly with 
a  cuirass  un- 
der his  toga. 


Catiline 
defeated. 


Cicero's 
defense  of 
Murena. 


After  second 
defeat  Cat- 
iline cast 
the  die. 


That  announcement  that  he  would  be  the  head  of  the 
only  vigorous  organ  in  the  state  —  the  people  —  was  his 
last  word  before  the  morning  of  the  election  when  Cicero, 
wearing  a  cuirass  under  his  toga,  took  his  place  as  presi- 
dent of  the  assembly  in  which  nobles  and  knights  who  had 
never  appeared  in  the  Campus  Martius  in  their  lives  came 
to  the  voting  booths.  While  the  vote  was  close,  the  pro- 
letariat was  beaten  down  by  the  rich  and  powerful  con- 
servative coalition;  Catiline  was  defeated  for  a  second 
time;  Murena  and  Silanus  were  elected  consuls.  Only  one 
hope  remained  to  Catiline,  and  that  was  that  Murena 
might  be  condemned  in  the  suit  for  bribery  brought  by 
Sulpicius,  a  hope  that  withered  when  Cicero  himself 
undertook  his  defense,  finally  securing  his  acquittal  by 
the  famous  and  elaborate  oration  which  has  come  down 
to  us  in  a  fairly  perfect  form. 

Certainly,  the  more  recent  critics  are  right  who  claim 
that  not  until  after  his  second  defeat  at  the  polls 
(repulsa)48  did  Catiline  cast  the  die,  when  nothing  re- 
mained to  him  but  a  renunciation  of  all  hopes  of  the  con- 
sulship and  retirement  to  private  life.  Rejecting  such  a 
thought,  the  furious  and  baffled  aspirant  took  the  decisive 
step  by  sending  money  to  Manlius,  an  old  soldier  of  Sulla, 
with  which  to  recruit  a  small  army  on  the  southern  foot- 
hills of  the  Apennines,  as  an  assurance  to  his  partisans  in 
the  capital  who  were  to  attempt  the  assassination  of 
Cicero  and  the  forcible  seizure  of  the  consulship.49  His 
hopes  of  success  depended  primarily  upon  Sulla's  veteran 
soldiers,  whose  cause  he  had  always  espoused,  and  upon 

48  There  were  three  defeats  if  we  count  his  abortive  effort  to  become  a 
candidate  in  65  B.C.  The  evidence  is  very  inconclusive  and  contradictory 
as  to  the  so-called  "first  conspiracy  of  Catiline,"  assigned  to  the  end  of  the 
year  66  B.C.  and  the  beginning  of  the  year  65  B.C.  Certainly  the  plot  never 
ripened  into  overt  acts. 

49  Cf.  John,  pp.  755-91. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN  177 

the  support  of  such  senators  of  profligate  lives  and  des- 
perate fortunes  as  Lentulus,  Cethegus,  Gabinius,  Statilius, 
Longinus,  Laeca,  Publius  and  Servilius  Sulla,  Curius,  Var- 
gunteius,  Annius,  and  Bestia. 

During  the  months  of  August  and  September,  devoted    Months  of 
by  the  conspirators  to  their  preparations,  it  was  impos-    September 
sible  to  preserve  secrecy,  and  as  the  rumors  of  the  ap-    H  bx.,  de- 
broaching  revolution  spread,  the  aroused  conservatives    preparation, 
became  more  insistent  for  the  proclamation  of  a  state  of 
siege,  or,  as  we  should  say,  martial  law.     Impressed  by 
that  outcry  and  the  personal  dangers  to  which  he  was  him- 
self exposed,  Cicero  convened  the  Senate  for  October  21, 
declaring  at  the  sitting  that  he  "knew  all" ;  that  he  then 
had  certain  proof  of  the  gravest  charges  against  Catiline, 
which  could  not  have  been  true  at  that  time.50     Then  it 
was,  after  Catiline  had  given  an  insolent  reply  to  an  invi- 
tation to  clear  himself,  that  the  Senate  proclaimed  a  state 
of  siege51  by  the  adoption  of  the  well-known  resolution  — 
ut  consules  viderent  ne  quid  detrimenti  respublica  caperet. 
But  the  declaration  was  only  a  threat;  it  was  not  put  into 
execution.  There  was  then  a  lull  in  the  storm  until  a  great 
sensation  was  caused  by  the  news  that  Manlius  was  openly   Manlius 
at  the  head  of  an  army  in  Etruria,52  and  that  he  had  writ-  a*thehead. 

■'  of  an  army  in 

ten  letters  to  Marcius  saying  that  he  and  his  followers  Etruria. 
had  taken  up  arms  because  they  could  no  longer  bear  the 

debts  by  which  they  were  burdened.53  Meeting  at 

Then  came  the  meeting  on  the  night  of  November  6,  in  thehouse 

Or  L.clCC3j 

the  house  of  Porcius  Laeca54  where  Catiline  urged  his   November 6. 

50  That  is  proven  by  Plut.,  Cic,  xiv;  Sail.,  Cat.,  30,  and  by  Cicero  him- 
self, Cat.,  i,  3. 

51  Cat.,  i,  iii,  7 ;  i,  2. 

52  Sail.,  Cat.,  xxx ;  Plut,  Cic,  xv. 

53  Sail.,  Cat.,  xxxiii. 

r'4Cf.  Tarentino,  C.  C,  pp.  8gf ;  John,  p.  792. 


i78 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


First 

Catilinarian, 
November  8. 


Catiline 
driven  from 
Rome  never 
to  return. 


friends  to  reinforce  the  movement  of  Manlius  by  inciting 
a  general  insurrection  throughout  Italy,  to  be  begun  by 
the  assassination  of  his  chief  enemy,  Cicero,55  two  knights 
who  were  present  offering  to  visit  the  consul's  house  the 
next  morning  for  that  purpose.50  But  that  move  was  cut 
short  by  Fulvia  who  carried  the  news  immediately  to 
Cicero  who,  on  November  8,  convened  the  Senate  in  extra- 
ordinary session  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Stator,  only  used 
for  such  purposes  on  occasions  of  great  danger. 

Then  it  was  that  Cicero,  with  Catiline  present  and 
unabashed  until  he  was  shunned  by  all  his  colleagues, 
delivered  the  First  Catilinarian,  the  brilliant  invective, 
addressed  directly  to  the  conspirator,  in  which  he  said : 

You  are  hemmed  in  on  all  sides ;  all  your  plans  are  clearer  than 
the  day  to  us;  let  me  remind  you  of  them.  Do  you  recollect  that 
on  the  2ist  of  October  I  said  in  the  Senate  that  on  a  certain  day 
which  was  to  be  the  27th  of  October,  C.  Manlius,  the  satellite  and 
servant  of  your  audacity,  would  be  in  arms?  Was  I  mistaken, 
Catiline,  not  only  in  so  important,  so  atrocious,  so  incredible  a 
fact,  but,  what  is  much  more  remarkable,  in  the  very  day  ?  I  said 
also  in  the  Senate  that  you  had  fixed  the  massacre  of  the  nobles  foi 
the  28th  day  of  October,  when  many  chief  men  of  the  Senate  hac 
left  Rome,  not  so  much  for  the  sake  of  saving  themselves  as  o: 
checking  your  designs.57 

He  had  said  already,  in  the  course  of  the  same  speech 

Long  ago,  Catiline,  you  ought  to  have  been  led  forth  to  execu- 
tion by  the  consul's  order;  and  on  your  head  ought  to  have  fallen 
the  destruction  which  you  have  long  been  plotting  against  us  all. 

By  that  crushing  denunciation  Catiline  was  driven  from 
Rome  never  to  return.    On  the  night  following  that  great 

»5  Pro  Sulla,  18. 

56  When  Vargunteius  and  Cornelius  appeared  at  the  door  of  Cicero'l 
house  they  were  not  admitted.  Sallust  mentions  both.  Cicero  (pro  Sulla, 
6.)    names  only  Cornelius. 

•»  Cat.,  i,  3. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN 


179 


day  he  passed  out  with  a  large  bodyguard  of  armed  men 
by  the  Aurelian  Way  which,  after  touching  the  Etruscan 
coast,  turned  eastward  to  Florentia  and  Faesulae,58  leav- 
ing behind  him  a  headless  and  irresolute  group  that  lost 
their  nerve  the  moment  their  leader  had  forsaken  them. 


Temple  of  Concord  in  which  the  Catiline  Conspirators 
Were  Condemned 

On  the  next  day,  November  9,  Cicero  delivered  the  Sec-    Second 
ond  Catilinarian,  in  the  form  of  a  public  address  (contio)    Catihnamn, 

r  v  '     November  9. 

to   the   people   in   the    Forum,    whose   note   is   one   of 
exultation : 

At  length,  O  Romans,  we  have  dismissed  from  the  city,  or  driven 

out,  or,  when  he  was  departing  of  his  own  accord,  we  have  pursued 

with  our  words,  Lucius  Catiline,  mad  with  audacity,  breathing 

wickedness,  impiously  planning  mischief  to  his  country,  threaten- 

58  Plut,  xvi;  Sail.,  Cat,  xxxiv. 


i8o 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Fatal  in- 
trigue with 
Allobrogian 
envoys. 


ing  fire  and  sword  to  you  and  to  this  city.  He  is  gone,  he  has 
departed,  he  has  disappeared,  he  has  rushed  out.  No  injury  will 
now  be  prepared  against  these  walls  within  the  walls  themselves 
by  that  monster  and  prodigy  of  wickedness.  And  we  have,  with- 
out controversy,  defeated  him,  the  sole  general  of  this  domestic 
war.  For  now  that  dagger  will  no  longer  hover  about  our  sides; 
we  shall  not  be  afraid  in  the  campus,  in  the  Forum,  in  the  senate- 
house, —  aye,  and  within  our  own  private  walls What  I 

have  been  waiting  for,  that  I  have  gained  —  namely,  that  you 
should  all  see  that  a  conspiracy  has  been  openly  formed  against  the 
Republic ;  unless,  indeed,  there  be  anyone  who  thinks  that  those  who 
are  like  Catiline  do  not  agree  with  Catiline.  There  is  no  longer 
room  for  levity;  the  business  itself  demands  severity.  One  thing, 
even  now,  I  will  grant  —  let  them  depart,  let  them  be  gone.  .  . 
As  to  the  future,  I  cannot  now  forget  that  this  is  my  country,  that 
I  am  the  consul  of  these  citizens ;  that  I  must  either  live  with  them, 
or  die  for  them.  There  is  no  guard  at  the  gate,  no  one  plotting 
against  their  path ;  if  anyone  wishes  to  go,  he  can  provide  for  him- 
self;  but  if  anyone  stirs  in  the  city,  and  if  I  detect  not  only  any 
action,  but  any  attempt  or  design  against  the  country,  he  shall  feel 
that  there  are  in  this  city  vigilant  consuls,  eminent  magistrates,  a 
brave  Senate,  arms,  and  prisons,  which  our  ancestors  appointed  as 
the  avengers  of  nefarious  and  convicted  crimes.59 

The  feeble  partisans  Catiline  had  left  behind  him,  such 
as  Cethegus,  Statilius,  Ceparius,  and  Lentulus,  who  were 
to  carry  on  the  work  at  the  capital  by  inciting  the  slaves 
and  the  proletariat  to  rebellion,  by  slaying  Cicero  an< 
all  the  senators  in  the  midst  of  a  general  commotion  to  b< 
heightened  by  firing  the  city  in  several  places  at  the  same 
time,  planned  their  own  destruction  when  they  approached 
the  ambassadors  of  the  Allobroges  who  had  come  to^ 
Rome  to  present  certain  grievances  of  their  country  whose 
limits  were  nearly  identical  with  those  of  modern  Savoy. 
For  certain  inducements  these  Gauls  were  asked  to  kindle 
the  flames  of  war  beyond  the  Alps  by  sending  pikemen 

89  Cat.,  ii,  i,  4,  12. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN  181 

and  cavalry  to  assist  the   revolutionary  forces  in  that 
quarter. 

After  a  conference  in  the  house  of  Sempronia,  the  wife   Conference 
of  Brutus,  who  was  absent,  the  Gauls  withdrew,  and  com-  of  sempro-* 
municated  with  their  advocate  Sanga,  who  conferred  at   nia,  wifeof 
once  with  Cicero.     The  masterful  criminal  lawyer  who 
knew  how  to  gather  evidence  explained  to  the  two  envoys 
how  to  trap  the  conspirators  by  demanding  of  them  sworn 
promises  in  writing  to  be  sent  to  their  people  in  Gaul.60 
After  such  documents  had  been  obtained  from  all  the  lead- 
ers at  Rome  it  was  agreed  that  the  envoys  should  return, 
accompanied  by  Volturcius,  who  had  received  from  Len- 
tulus  61  a  short  unsigned  letter  to  Catiline  with  whom  they 
were  to  confer  on  the  way  home.     Departing  on  the  night   TheMul- 
of  December  2-3  by  the  Flaminian  Way,  the  envoys,  as  decern"  g*' 
they  passed  over  the  Mulvian  bridge,  less  than  two  miles  ber2-3. 
north  of  the  city,  were  seized  by  two  praetors  who  had 
been  stationed  there  with  guards  in  ambush. 

With  the  incriminating  documents  thus  secured,  Cicero, 
moving  with  great  rapidity,  had  the  chief  conspirators, 
Lentulus,  Cethegus,  Statilius,  and  Gabinius,  arrested  and 
brought  first  to  his  house  in  the  Carinae  and  thence  to  the 
Senate  for  a  judicial  inquiry  which  consumed  nearly  all  of 
December  3.  There  the  conspirators,  confronted  by  the 
ambassadors  and  by  their  own  letters,  were  surprised  into 
a  confession.  At  the  end  of  the  cross-examination  before 
the  Senate,  which  sat  on  this  occasion  in  the  temple  of 
Concord,  Cicero,  as  he  passed  out,  received  a  great  ova- 
tion. He  then  crossed  over  to  the  Rostra,  near  the 
temple,  in  order  to  explain  to  the  waiting  populace  all 
that  had  occurred.  In  a  discourse  known  as  the  Third 
Catilinarian,  he  said: 

60  Sail.,  Cat.,  xliv.  «  Cat.,  iii,  S ;  Sail.,  Cat.,  xliv. 


182 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Third 

Catilinarian, 
December  3. 


Excuse  for 
permitting 
Catiline  to 
escape. 


Attempt  to  in- 
volve Caesar 
and  Crassus. 


Honors  for 
Cicero. 


Debate  on 
the  death 
penalty, 
December  5. 


I  introduced  Volturcius  without  the  Gauls.  By  the  command 
of  the  Senate  I  pledged  him  the  public  faith  for  his  safety.  I 
exhorted  him  fearlessly  to  tell  all  he  knew.  Then,  when  he  had 
scarcely  recovered  himself  from  his  great  alarm,  he  said  that  he 
had  messages  and  letters  for  Catiline  from  Publius  Lentulus  to 
avail  himself  of  the  guard  of  the  slaves,  and  to  come  toward  the 
city  with  his  army  as  quickly  as  possible ;  and  that  was  to  be  done 
with  the  intention  that  when  they  had  set  fire  to  the  city  on  all 
sides,  as  it  had  been  arranged  and  distributed,  and  had  made  a  great 
massacre  of  the  citizens,  he  might  be  at  hand  to  catch  those  who 
fled,  and  to  join  himself  to  the  leaders  within  the  city.  [Fearing 
lest  he  should  be  blamed  for  permitting  Catiline  to  escape,  Cicero 
said:]  Unless  I  had  driven  this  man,  so  active,  so  ready,  so  auda- 
cious, so  crafty,  so  vigilant  in  wickedness,  so  industrious  in  crimi- 
nal exploits,  from  his  plots  within  the  city  to  the  open  warfare  of 
the  camp  (I  will  express  my  honest  opinion,  O  citizens),  I  should 
not  easily  have  removed  from  your  necks  so  vast  a  weight  of  evil. 

When,  on  the  next  day,  the  Senate  continued  the  inquiry 
by  hearing  other  witnesses,  some  of  the  conservative  chiefs 
attempted  to  induce  the  conspirators  to  confess  that 
Caesar  and  Crassus  had  been  parties  to  the  plot.  But 
the  senators  refused  to  believe  the  informers.  And  so  the 
session  ended  after  rewards  had  been  voted  to  Volturcius 
and  the  Allobrogian  envoys;  and  after  Cicero  had  re- 
ceived the  splendid  title  of  "Father  of  his  country"  —  an 
unprecedented  honor  accorded  him  in  a  resolution  decree- 
ing public  thanksgiving  to  the  gods  for  the  services  he  had 
rendered  "in  preserving  the  city  from  conflagration,  the 
citizens  from  massacre,  Italy  from  war." 

The  great  day  was  December  5,  when  the  Senate  met 
under  the  presidency  of  Cicero  to  debate  the  death  penalty 
while  the  excited  populace,  blocking  the  Forum,  the 
temples,  and  all  the  streets  in  the  neighborhood,  awaited 
the  result.  After  Silanus,  one  of  the  consuls  for  the  next 
year,  who  was  requested  to  speak  first,  had  given  his 


stitutional 
question. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN  183 

opinion  in  favor  of  the  death  penalty,  all  who  followed 
expressed  the  same  view  until  Caesar,  praetor  elect,  was 
reached.  He,  after  censuring  the  crime  of  the  accused, 
proposed  imprisonment  and  confiscation  without  the  power 
of  remission  of  the  sentence,  because,  he  said,  the  death 
penalty  was  both  dangerous  and  illegal.  Thus  a  grave  A  grave  con- 
constitutional  question  was  raised  involving  the  power  of 
the  Senate  to  inflict  the  death  penalty  under  the  resolu- 
tion of  October  21  declaring  martial  law. 

As  the  Senate  was  not  a  judicial  tribunal,  and  as  the 
constitution  gave  it,  as  such,  no  power  to  inflict  the  death 
penalty,  its  power  to  inflict  it  in  this  case  depended  upon 
the  resolution  in  question,  if  it  existed  at  all.  A  distin-  Forsyth'i 
guished  jurist  has  suggested  that  the  supreme  power  of  vlew* 
life  and  death  had  been  given  by  the  resolution  of  October 
21  to  the  consuls,  but  that  they  had  abdicated  that  power 
by  referring  the  decision  to  the  Senate,  thereby  casting 
the  responsibility  upon  that  body.62  Under  such  condi- 
tions did  the  lex  Valeria,  allowing  an  appeal  to  the  people 
in  their  centuries  against  every  sentence  of  a  magistrate, 
still  prevail  against  a  decreteum  ultimum.  The  highest 
authority  on  the  subject  says: 

This  guardianship  of  the  state  against  conspiracies   (conjura-   Greenidge's 
tiones)  may  have  been  the  precedent  for  a  power,  the  legality  of   view, 
which,  as  exercised  by  the  Senate  during  the  last  century  of  the 

Republic,  was  hotly  contested Yet  Roman  sentiment  would 

have  declared  that  there  were  times  when  the  decree  and  its  con- 

62  Forsyth,  Life  of  Cicero,  vol.  i,  p.  152.  For  Niebuhr's  view,  see  Hist. 
of  Rome,  vol.  v,  p.  25;  for  Mommsen's,  Gesch.  Rom.,  bk.  v,  ch.  5.  After 
speaking,  in  his  Roman  History,  of  Cicero's  act  as  "a  brutal  judicial 
murder,"  Mommsen,  in  his  more  recent  work,  the  Staatsrecht  (vol.  iii, 
p.  1246),  holds  that  the  Senatus  consultum  ultimum  did  really  and  legally 
justify  the  consul  in  treating  all  conspiring  citizens  as  enemies  when  found 
on  Roman  territory.  His  final  complaint  against  Cicero  seems  to  be  that  he 
should  have  consulted  the  Senate  at  all  instead  of  putting  the  conspirators 
j  to  death  on  his  own  responsibility. 


iS4  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

sequences  were  justified.  Force  can  only  be  met  by  force,  and  a 
gathering  such  as  Catiline's  army  in  Etruria  was  a  fair  object  of 
attack  by  the  executive  authorities;  but  sentiment  would  not  have 
allowed  the  execution,  without  appeal,  of  a  few  prisoners  captured 
within  the  city,  however  grave  the  danger.63 

Against  that  claim  that  the  "few  prisoners  captured 
within  the  city"  did  have  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  people 
another  acute  specialist  urges  the  fact  that  no  such  appeal 
was  taken: 

Sihler's  Did  Caesar  move  for  a  regular  trial,  whether  for  maiestras  or 

view.  perduellio,  under  the  statutes  (of  Sulla)  then  in  force?     Did  he 

move  for  any  trial  at  all?  Did  he  seriously  question  the  constitu- 
tional right  of  the  Senate?  Did  he  speak  of  an  appeal?  Not 
at  all.64 

To  laymen  such  an  argument  is  impressive,  but  not  to 
constitutional  lawyers  who  know  that  if  a  tribunal  that 
takes  away  life  is  without  jurisdiction  to  render  the  judg- 
ment, its  act  is  illegal  and  void,  no  matter  whether  the 
accused  is  active  or  passive.  Cicero,  evidently  appreciat- 
ing the  difficulty  in  which  he  would  be  placed,  if  called 
upon  to  execute  an  extra-constitutional  sentence,  delivered 
Fourth  at  that  point  the  Fourth  Catilinarian  in  which,  despite  its 

Catihnanan.  ambiguous  terms,  he  indicated  a  decided  inclination  to- 
ward Caesar's  views.  He  made  it  plain,  however,  that 
he  was  quite  ready  to  execute  the  decree  of  the  Senate 
whatever  it  might  be : 

Now,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  I  see  what  is  my  interest ;  if  you  fol- 
low the  opinion  of  Caius  Caesar  (since  he  has  adopted  this  path  in 
the  Republic  which  is  accounted  the  popular  one),  perhaps  since  he 
is  the  author  and  promoter  of  this  opinion,  the  popular  violence 

63  Greenidge,  Roman  Public  Life,  pp.  279-80. 

6*Sihler,  pp.  163-64.  See  also  the  article  of  G.  W.  Botsford,  "On  the 
Legality  of  the  Trial  and  Condemnation  of  the  Catilinarian  Conspira- 
tors," in  the  Classical  Weekly,  N.  Y.,  March  1,  1913,  p.  130. 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN 


i85 


will  be  less  to  be  dreaded  by  me;  if  you  adopt  the  other  opinion,  I 
know  not  whether  I  am  not  likely  to  have  more  trouble;  but  still 
let  the  advantage  of  the  Republic  outweigh  the  consideration  of  my 

danger 

I  seem  to  myself  to  see  this  city,  the  light  of  the  world,  and  the 
citadel  of  all  nations,  falling  on  a  sudden  by  one  conflagration.  I 
see  in  my  mind's  eye  miserable  and  unburied  heaps  of  cities  in  my 
buried  country,  the  sight  of  Cethegus  and  his  madness  raging  amid 
your  slaughter  ever  present  to  my  sight.  But  when  I  have  set 
before  myself  Lentulus  reigning  as  he  himself  confesses  that  he  had 
hoped  was  his  destiny,  and  this  Gabinius  arrayed  in  the  purple, 
and  Catiline  arrived  with  his  arms,  then  I  shudder  at  the  lamenta- 
tion of  matrons,  and  the  flight  of  virgins  and  of  boys,  and  the 
insults  of  the  vestal  virgins;  and  because  these  things  appear  to 
me  exceedingly  miserable  and  pitiable  therefore  I  show  myself 
severe  and  vigorous  to  those  who  have  wished  to  bring  about  this 

state  of  things Therefore,  O  Conscript  Fathers,  determine 

with  care,  as  you  have  begun,  and  boldly,  concerning  your  own 
safety  and  that  of  the  Roman  people,  and  concerning  your  wives 
and  children;  concerning  your  altars  and  your  hearths,  your  shrines 
and  temples;  concerning  the  houses  and  homes  of  the  whole  city; 
concerning  your  dominion,  your  liberty,  and  the  safety  of  Italy  and 
the  whole  republic.  For  you  have  a  consul  who  will  not  hesitate 
to  obey  your  decrees,  and  who  will  be  able,  as  long  as  he  lives,  to 
defend  what  you  decide  on,  and  of  his  own  power  to  execute  it.65 

Cicero  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Atticus  makes  it  plain 
that  the  senators  were  still  inclined  to  the  views  of  Caesar 
until  the  tide  was  suddenly  turned  by  Cato's  fiery  appeal 
in  which  he  imperiously  demanded  that  law  and  order 
should  be  upheld  by  the  infliction  of  the  death  penalty.  A 
majority  of  the  wavering  Senate,  who  were  thus  driven 
to  that  conclusion  by  the  tribune  elect,  escorted  him  to  his 
house.66  Most  of  the  senators,  not  including  Caesar,  then 
joined  another  procession  that  escorted  the  consul  through 
the  streets  as  he  took  the  conspirators,  Lentulus,  Cethe- 


Cato's  fiery 
appeal 
forced  the 
death 
sentence. 


Conspirators 
strangled 
in  the 
Mamertine. 


fl5  Cat.,  v,  6,  11. 


««  Veil.,  ii,  35. 


i86 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Demonstra- 
tion in  Cice- 
ro's honor. 


Close  of  his 
career  as  a 
statesman. 


Farewell  ad- 
dress cut  off 
by  tribune's 
veto. 


gus,  Statilius,  and  Gabinius  from  the  different  houses  in 
which  they  were  guarded,  to  the  lower  vault  of  the 
Mamertine  prison  67  where  they  were  strangled  by  the  sol- 
diers who  acted  as  public  executioners.  After  all  was  over, 
Cicero  announced  to  the  awe-struck  multitude  the  fate  of 
the  traitors  in  a  single  word:  Vixerunt  —  "They  have 
ceased  to  live."  68  He  then  returned  to  his  house  in  the 
midst  of  an  enthusiastic  demonstration  of  confidence.  In 
the  words  of  Plutarch:  "The  women  showed  lights  from 
the  tops  of  the  houses  in  honor  of  Cicero,  and  to  behold 
him  returning  with  a  splendid  retinue  of  the  principal  citi- 
zens." A  few  weeks  later  Catiline,  who  had  been  able 
to  arm  only  a  few  thousand  men,  after  a  bloody  battle  in 
which  he  fought  with  desperate  bravery,  was  defeated 
and  killed  at  Pistoria  in  Etruria.  His  head  was  sent  to 
Rome. 

Despite  the  fact  that  Cicero  was  still  to  hold  the  offices 
of  augur  and  proconsul  in  Cilicia,  his  career  as  a  states- 
man, as  a  director  of  public  affairs  at  Rome,  was  now  at 
an  end.  Nothing  remained  but  a  last  word  to  the  people 
before  the  inauguration  of  the  new  consuls,  Murena  and 
Silanus,  on  January  I,  62  B.C.  But  alas!  in  speaking  that 
final  word  a  bitter  cup  was  pressed  to  his  lips  that  did  not 
pass  from  him  in  all  the  sad  disappointing  years  that  were 
yet  to  come.  When  on  December  31,  he  attempted, 
according  to  custom,  to  deliver  his  farewell  address  on 
laying  down  his  office,  Metellus  Nepos,  one  of  the  new 
tribunes,  after  covering  the  Rostra  with  benches,  so  a9 


67  Servius  Tullius  completed  this  prison  by  the  addition  of  a  subter- 
ranean dungeon  called,  after  him,  Tullianum.  The  traveler  who  visits  it 
may  still  recognize  the  fidelity  of  Sallust's  description.  Sail.,  Cat.,  55;  cf. 
Varro,  L.L.V.,  §151. 

88  "So,"  says  Plutarch,  "the  Romans,  to  avoid  inauspicious  language, 
name  those  that  are  dead."   Cf.  Sail.,  Cat.,  sosqg. 


S3    Oh 


(J    <~ 


2    * 

o 
5!    £ 


CICERO  AS  A  STATESMAN  187 

to  prevent  the  consul  from  standing  there,  interposed  his 

veto  upon  the  ground  that  no  man  should  be  allowed  to 

speak  to  the  people  who  had  condemned  Roman  citizens 

to  death  without  a  trial.    With  his  usual  quickness  Cicero 

turned  the  unprecedented  insult  to  a  magistrate  to  a  good 

account,  when,  instead  of  taking  the  traditional  oath  of 

outgoing  consuls,  he  devised  one  of  his  own.     Raising  his 

voice  so  that  it  could  be  heard  by  all,  he  swore  that  dur-   Swore  that 

ing  his  consulship  he  had  saved  the  state  and  conserved   thee^ate"nd 

the  empire,69  the  people  answering,   "you  have  spoken  conserved 

true»70  the  empire. 

89  Ad  Tarn.,  v,  2.  70  Cicero,  In  Pisonem,  3. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY 


An  attempt  has  been  made  heretofore  to  emphasize 
the  fact  that  when  Cicero  entered  public  life  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Roman  bar  the  administration  of  law  was 
subject  to  the  overshadowing  influence  of  Sulla,1  a  suc- 
cessful general,  who,  after  his  return  from  the  first  Mith- 
ridatic  war,  won  the  dictatorship  by  crushing  the  Marian 
party. 

At  the  end  of  his  public  life  as  a  statesman,  Cicero 
was  to  feel  the  overshadowing  influence  of  another  suc- 
cessful general,  who,  after  his  return  from  the  last  Mithri- 
datic  war,  was  to  establish  as  the  conqueror  of  Spain, 
Africa,  and  Asia,  a  virtual  dictatorship,  destined  to  con- 
tinue until  near  the  close  of  his  life  in  43  B.C.  During  the 
fourteen  years  that  intervened  between  the  end  of  Cicero's 
consulship  in  the  year  63  B.C.  and  Pompey's  overthrow 
at  Pharsalia  in  the  year  48  B.C.,  the  histories  of  these 
two  men,  born  in  the  same  year,  are  inseparable.  The 
only  permanent  thing  Sulla  left  behind  him  was  a  type  o: 
statesman  new  to  the  history  of  Rome  —  "the  type  of  a 
military  chief  at  the  head  of  a  devoted  army  which  he 
controls  by  his  money  and  by  the  sword."2 
Sulla,  Pom-  After  Sulla  had  passed  away,  that  type  was  reproducec 

pcy.andCae-  -        m0re  permanent  form  in  Pompey;  and  after  he  hac 

sar  as  types.  r  r  V 

passed  away,  in  a  still  more  permanent  form  in  Caesar. 
All  that  remained  of  life  to  Cicero,  excepting  his  last 
year,   was  to  be  passed  beneath   the  shadows  first  oi 


1  See  above,  p.  115. 

2  Ferrero,  Greatness  and  Decline  of  Rome,  vol.  i,  p.  105. 


I 


Pompey  the  Great.     Spada  Palace. 


Crassus  in 
71  B.C. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  189 

Pompey  and  then  of  Caesar.  As  the  downfall  of  the 
Republic  draws  near,  events  cluster  around  the  names  of 
a  few  great  military  chiefs,  and  in  that  way  its  annals 
become  rather  biographical  than  historical. 

As  a  soldier  under  Sulla,  Cnaeus  Pompeius,  in  common  Sulla's 
English  form  Pompey,  connected  himself  with  the  aris-  0efath"s  ip 
tocratic  party;  and  the  victories  he  won  over  the  Marian  aristocracy, 
armies  at  home,  which  brought  to  him  the  title  of  im- 
perator,    were    soon    followed    by    triumphs    over    the 
Marians  in  Sicily  and  Africa,  which  prompted  Sulla  to 
give  him  the  surname  of  Magnus.     Next  came  his  vic- 
tories in  Spain  over  the  Marian  leader  Sestorius;  and 
then  the  final  blow  to  the  slave  insurrection  headed  by 
Spartacus.     Thus  it  was  that  he  won  in  71  B.C.  the  con-  Consul  with 
sulship  with  Crassus,  and  a  triumph  in  honor  of  his  Span- 
ish successes.      Four  years  later,  on  motion  of  the  tribune 
Gabinius,  he  was  entrusted  with  the  extraordinary  com- 
mand created  specially  for  the  extermination  of  piracy 
in  the  Mediterranean,  resulting  in  swift  and  complete 
victory.8 

It  is  not  therefore  strange  that  in  the  next  year  the 
tribune  Manilius  should  have  asked  for  a  vote  of  the 
people  placing  the  invincible  one  in  supreme  command  of  Supreme 
Rome's  empire  in  the  East  in  order  that  the  prolonged  ^^East 
war  with  Mithridates,  king  of  Pontus,  who  had  recov- 
ered from  defeats  inflicted  upon  him  by  Lucullus,  might 
be  brought  to  a  close.  With  that  task  accomplished,  he 
turned  southward,  and,  after  conquering  Syria  and  Phoe- 
nicia, he  entered  Palestine,  taking,  after  a  short  siege, 
the  city  of  Jerusalem.4 

8  Plut.,  Pomp.,  25  ;  Dio,  xxxvi,  6 ;  Livy,  Ep'tL,  c. 

4Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  xiv,  4,  4;  Zon.,  v,  6.  But  Cnaeus 
Pornpeius,  after  he  had  taken  Jerusalem,  though  he  was  a  conqueror,  touched 
nothing  which  was  in  that  temple — Cic,  Pro  Flac,  28.   The  Jews  must 


190  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

The  Romans  were  thus  brought  into  contact  for  the 
first  time  with  a  people  whose  religion  was  destined  to 
exercise  such  a  profound  influence  upon  the  mighty  fabric 
the  empire  founders  were  building  up.  There  is  sufficient 
evidence  to  justify  the  belief  that  after  Pompey  had  in- 
vaded the  penetralia  of  the  Temple,  and  gazed  upon  its 
mysteries  and  its  treasures,  he  was  so  overawed  that  he 
left  all  untouched,  despite  the  fact  that  he  found  no 
statue  or  picture  of  the  Godhead.    Tacitus  says: 

God  of  the  The  Jews  acknowledge  one  God  only,  and   Him  they  see  in 

Jews  de-  ^  m{n(j's  eye   an(j  jjjm  tney  ad0re  in  contemplation,  condemning 

scribed  by  ...                                            .               .                            .                        , 

Tacitus.  as  impious  idolators  all  who,  with  perishable  materials,  wrought 

into  the  human  form,  attempt  to  give  a  representation  of  the 
Deity.  The  God  of  the  Jews  is  the  great  governing  Mind  that 
directs  and  guides  the  whole  form  of  nature,  eternal,  infinite,  and 
neither  capable  of  change  nor  subject  to  decay.  In  consequence, 
no  statue  was  to  be  seen  in  their  city,  much  less  in  their  temple.5 
Nothing  perhaps  is  more  remarkable  than  the  fact  that  if  the 
Aryan  world  of  Europe  has  learned  its  arts  and  its  laws  from 
its  own  elder  brethren,  it  is  from  the  Semitic  stranger  that  it  has 
learned  its  faith.6 

Pompey's  re-  Toward  the  middle  of  the  year  62  B.C.,  Pompey  was 
2 b.c.  about  to  ret-urn  to  Rome  after  five  years  of  absence, 
and  everyone  was  uneasy  as  to  what  the  most  famous, 
the  most  powerful,  the  wealthiest  Roman  would  do. 
Would  he  come  at  the  head  of  his  army,  abolish  the 
Republic,  and  then  make  himself  dictator?  Certain  it 
was  that  he  would  exercise  an  immense  influence,  and 
for  that  reason  everyone  was  eager  to  ascertain  his 
views  and  to  enlist  his  interest  in  pending  problems. 

have  been  brought  to  Rome  in  great  numbers  after  Pompey's  conquest, 
because  Cicero  says  that  in  five  years  they  became  so  numerous  and  influen- 
tial that  they  disturbed  the  popular  assemblies  and  that  an  orator  who  did 
not  desire  to  raise  a  storm  was  compelled  to  conciliate  them.  —  Pro  Flac,  28. 

5  Hist.,  v,  5. 

6  Freeman,  Comparative  Politics,  p.  32. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY 


191 


At  that  moment  one  of  the  on-dits  in  the  political  and 
social  world  at  Rome  was  the  trial  of  Clodius,  a  young   Trial  of 
aristocratic  degenerate  who  had  violated  the  mysteries  of   clodlus- 
the  Bona  Dea,  recently  celebrated,  according  to  custom, 
at  the  house  of  the  first  praetor,  Caesar.7    Something  like 
consternation  passed  over  the  city  when  it  was  reported 
that  at  a  solemn  religious  festival  in  honor  of  the  goddess 
who  gave  fruitfulness  in  marriage,  and  at  which  even  the 
pictures  and  statues  of  all  men  were  veiled,8  a  young  His  liaison 
profligate  had   intruded   himself   dressed   as   a   woman,   ^lth    . 

.  ,        Pompcia. 

either  to  gratify  prurient  curiosity,  or,  what  was  far 
worse,  to  have  a  liaison  with  the  lady  of  the  house, 
Caesar's  wife,  Pompeia. 

After  the  college  of  pontiffs  had  declared  the  act  to 
be  a  sacrilege,  the  Senate  suggested  that  the  consuls  should 
propose  a  bill  in  the  assembly  providing  that  the  judices 
should  be  selected  by  the  praetor  and  not  chosen  by  lot, 
as  those  selected  in  that  way  might  be  easily  accessible  to 
bribes.9  So  matters  stood  when  Pompey  landed  at  Brun- 
dusium,  disbanded  his  army,  to  the  surprise  and  delight 
of  the  conservatives,  and  then  moved  toward  Rome  with 
a  small  suite,  intent  only  on  a  triumph.  When  during 
his  approach  he  was  asked  publicly  for  his  opinion  as  to  Pompey's 
the  manner  in  which  the  judices  in  the  trial  of  Clodius  neu  ra 
should  be  drawn,  he  avoided  a  conflict  with  the  Senate 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  populace  on  the  other  by  giving 
an  evasive  answer. 

After  a  furious  contest  in  the  assembly,  a  compromise 
bill  was  passed  which,  after  declaring  the  act  in  question 
a  sacrilege,  provided  that  the  judices  should  be  chosen 
by  lot  out  of  the  decuriae,  representing  a  limited  number 

7  Plut.,  Caes.,  9-10. 

8  Juvenal  says  that  even  a  male  mouse  dared  not  show  himself. 

9  Ad  Att.,\,  13;  i,  16. 


192 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Caesar  and 
Cicero  as 
witnesses. 


Pompeia 
divorced. 


Cicero  and 
Clodia. 


of  the  Senate.  Before  the  trial  came  on  in  the  year 
61  B.C.,  the  cause  of  Clodius  had  been  espoused  by  the 
popular  party,  now  openly  denouncing  what  it  called  the 
illegal  executions  of  the  accomplices  of  Catiline.  At  the 
trial  Clodius  pleaded  an  alibi,  contending  that  he  was 
at  Interamna  some  sixty  miles  from  Rome  when  the 
crime  was  committed.  As  Caesar,  when  examined  as  a 
witness,  said  he  knew  nothing,10  the  defense  might  have 
prevailed  on  the  facts  had  not  Cicero,  who  appeared  as  a 
witness,  deposed  that  three  hours  before  the  commission 
of  the  crime  Clodius  had  called  to  pay  his  respects  at  his 
house.11 

But  somebody's   gold,   undoubtedly  that   of   Crassus, 
went  forth  to  swell  the  cry  of  the  democrats  who  were 
declaring  that  those  who  had  perished  on  December  5  in 
the  Mamertine  prison  were  really  assassinated,  despite 
the  fact  that  Clodius  himself,  the  sworn  enemy  of  Cati- 
line, had  supported  Cicero  at  that  time.     While  Caesar 
took  no   active  part  in  the  trial  he   divorced  his  wife 
Pompeia,  declaring,  according  to  Plutarch,  that  "Caesar's 
wife  should  be  above  suspicion."     If  the  same  authority 
is  to  be  believed,  Cicero  was  drawn  into  the  position  of 
a  voluntary  witness  in  order  to  quiet  the  suspicions  of 
the  jealous  and  shrewish  Terentia  as  to  Clodia,  the  sister   j 
of  Clodius,  a  most  degraded  woman  who  is  said  to  have   j 
purchased  a  garden  near  a  bathing  place  for  young  men 
on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  where  she  received  the  most  j1 
profligate  of  the  Roman  nobility.     Those  who  pretend  | 
to  believe  Plutarch,  in  order  to  impugn  the  motives  of  j 
Cicero,  say  that  to  allay  the  suspicions  of  Terentia  he  fi 
made  the  assault  upon  the  brother  of  Clodia.12 

10  Plut.,  Cae s.,  10. 

11  Val.  Max.,  viii,  5,  5 ;  Ad  AtU,  i,  16. 

12  Plut.,  Cic,  29. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  193 

According  to  ancient  chroniclers  each  of  the  purchased 
judices  in  the  case  of  Clodius,  who  was  acquitted  by  a   Clodius 
vote  of  thirty-one  to  twenty-five,  received  something  like   Jj^JgLj, 
four    hundred    thousand    sesterces13  —  a    condition    of    bribery, 
things  which  filled  the  mind   of  Cicero  with  the  most 
gloomy  forebodings  for  the  future  of  the  Republic.     In 
a  letter  to  Atticus  he  said: 

A  state  of  things  which  seemed  fixed  and  founded  on  the  union 
cf  the  better  class  and  the  prestige  of  my  consulate,  unless  some 
power  above  have  mercy  upon  us,  has  been  surely  made  to  slip  from 
our  hands,  by  this  one  verdict,  if  you  call  it  a  verdict,  when  thirty 
individuals,  the  most  frivolous  among  the  Roman  people,  upon 
receiving  some  paltry  coin,  are  destroying  all  human  and  divine 
principle.14 

Under  such  provocation  the  great  master  of  denuncia- 
tion could  not  keep  silent.    After  denouncing  Clodius  in  the   Cicero's 
Senate  and  elsewhere,  he  published  a  carefully  prepared  againsthim. 
invective  against  him  of  which  only  a  few  fragments  sur- 
vive.   The  following  extract  may  be  given  as  a  specimen : 

O  extraordinary  prodigy!  O  you  monster!  are  you  not  ashamed 
at  the  sight  of  this  temple  and  of  this  city,  nor  of  your  life,  nor  of 
the  light  of  day?  Do  you,  who  were  clad  in  woman's  attire,  dare 
to  assume  a  manly  voice  —  you,  whose  infamous  lust  and  adultery, 
united  with  impiety,  was  not  delayed  even  by  the  time  required  to 
suborn  witnesses  to  procure  your  acquittal?  Did  you,  when  your 
feet  were  being  bound  with  bandages,  when  an  Egyptian  turban 
and  veil  were  being  fitted  on  your  head,  and  when  you  were  with 

j  difficulty  trying  to  get  down  the  sleeved  tunic  over  your  arms,  when 
you  were  being  girdled  carefully  with  a  sash  —  did  you  never  in 

:  all  that  time  recollect  that  you  were  the  grandson   of  Appius 

I  Claudius?16 

13  "What  did  you  want  a  guard  for?"  asked  Catulus  of  one  of  the  judices. 
"Were  you  afraid  lest  you  should  be  robbed  of  your  bribe?" 

u  Ad  Aft.,  i,  16. 

15  Printed  by  Orelli,  according  to  the  corrections  of  Beier,  from  the 
Ambrosian  manuscript. 


194 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


The  con- 
sequences. 


Cicero's 
desire  to 
impress 
Pompey. 


As  Cicero  thus  applied  the  scourge  to  the  back  of 
Clodius,  he  applied  it,  some  years  later,  to  the  back  of 
Mark  Antony.  The  vengeful  counterblast  of  the  former 
culminated  in  a  movement  that  fired  his  house  and  drove 
him  into  exile;  the  vengeful  counterblast  of  the  latter 
culminated  in  his  assassination. 

In  the  midst  of  all  his  perplexities  the  ex-consul  was 
consumed  with  the  desire  to  impress  upon  the  great  cap- 
tain the  fact  that  while  he  had  been  doing  great  things 
in  the  East,  he  himself  had  been  doing  even  greater 
things  at  home.  He  was  eager  to  make  Pompey 
understand  "his  consular  achievements"  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  great  conspiracy,  which,  in  a  letter  addressed 
to  the  returning  conqueror,  he  said  had  been  in  the 
process  of  formation  since  January  I,  6$  B.C.  Wounded 
as  he  was  by  Pompey's  cold  and  unappreciative  reply, 
it  is  not  strange  that  he  should  have  sneered  at 
Pompey's  first  address  to  the  people,  which  he  said 
fell  flat  because  unpleasing  to  the  rich,  distasteful  to 
the  poor,  spiritless  to  the  wicked,  and  trifling  to  the 
good.16 

His  time  came  however,  when,  after  Pompey  had  made 
his  first  speech  in  the  Senate,  Crassus  rose  and  paid  a 
glowing  tribute  to  Cicero's  splendid  services  in  saving, 
the  state,  saying  that  whenever  he  thought  of  his  wife,; 
his  home,  his  country,  he  realized  that  he  owed  every- 
thing, even  life  itself,  to  the  great  consul,  Cicero.  With 
his  favorite  theme  thus  happily  introduced,  Cicero  began, 
his  reply  in  the  presence  of  Pompey,  who  had  never 
heard  him  before,  determined  to  exhibit  himself  to  the 
best  advantage. 


18  A d  Att.,  i,   14:    "Non  jucunda   miseris,  inanis  improbis,  beatis  non 
grata,  bonis  non  gravis:  itaque  frigebat." 


I 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  195 

But  I,  good  gods,  how  did  I  vaunt  myself  before  my  new  hearer    His  first 

Pompey!    If  ever  periods,  transitions,  the  syllogisms  of  oratory,  the    sPeecnln 

,.  ,  '     .         .  ,.~       .  ,  .  his  presence, 

making  or  points  by  amplification  —  they  were  at  my  service  on 

that  occasion.  Why  say  more  ?  There  was  a  roar  of  applause.  For 
this  was  my  theme :  about  the  decisive  importance  of  the  senatorial 
class,  about  harmony  with  the  equestrian  class,  about  the  utterly 
defunct  remnants  of  the  conspiracy,  about  the  reduced  cost  of  liv- 
ing, about  peace  and  order.  You  know  well  how  I  can  thunder  on 
a  topic  like  this.  It  was  so  loud,  in  fact,  that  I  may  cut  short  my 
description,  as  I  think  you  must  have  heard  it  in  Epirus.17 

It  was  at  this  moment  when  the  pulses  of  his  vanity 
were  beating  strong,  and  when  he  was  over-stimulated 
perhaps  by  the  social  aspirations  of  the  aristocratic 
Terentia,  that  he  made  the  grave  mistake  of  exchanging 
the  old-fashioned  home  of  his  father  in  the  Carinae  for 
a  splendid  mansion  on  the  Palatine,  purchased  from  The  great 
Crassus  at  the  enormous  price  of  three  and  one-half  p°"atine 
million  sesterces.  Its  atrium  was  adorned  with  columns 
of  Greek  marble  thirty-eight  feet  high.  He  was  now  a 
neighbor  of  Caesar,  who  dwelt  in  the  Regia  near  by.18 

In  order  to  make  such  a  purchase,  and  to  maintain 
such  establishments,  it  is  clear  that,  in  defiance  of  the 
Cincian  law,  no  longer  strictly  observed,19  he  was  obliged 
to  call  upon  his  clients  for  contributions  in  the  form  of 
loans  without  interest.20     From  money  so  contributed,  or  Sources o 

*  his  enormous 

in  the  form  of  legacies,  must  have  been  made  up  his  enor-  income. 
«  Ad  An.,  i,  14. 

18  Ibid.,  xii,  45. 

19  "La  loi  Cincia,  en  ce  qui  concerne  cette  disposition  particuliere,  etant 
un  anachronisme.  Dirigee  contre  Tabus  des  honoraires  exageres,  contre 
la  lisence  des  avocats,  comme  dit  Tacite,  elle  aurait  pu  produire  de  bons 
resultats:  absolue  dans  ses  prohibitions,  elle  ne  fut  respectee  que  par  un 

!  petit  nombre  d'orateurs  interesses  a  faire  parade  d'une  generosite  qui  leur 
Iprofitait."  —  Grellet-Dumazeau,  Le  Barreau  Romain,  p.  118. 

20  According  to  Gellius  (xii,  12),  Cicero,  not  having  the  ready  money  to 
■■  make  the  purchase  in  question,  accepted  a  loan  of  two  million  sesterces 

from  P.  Sulla,  a  client,  then  under  indictment. 


196 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Contribu- 
tions from 
Antonius. 


Caesar's 
baggage 
seized 
for  debt. 


Pompey's 
gorgeous 
triumph. 


mous  income  which  could  not  have  been  derived  in  any 
more  legitimate  way.  At  the  end  of  that  year,  62  B.C., 
he  writes  to  Sestius: 

Let  me  tell  you,  I  am  so  deep  in  debt  as  to  desire  to  enter  into 
a  conspiracy  myself.  But  my  credit  is  fairly  good  on  the  Forum: 
the  money  lenders  know  who  raised  the  siege  from  which  they 
were  suffering.     I  can  borrow  money  at  six  per  cent.21 

At  this  time  it  was  that  his  client  Publius  Sulla  lent 
him  two  million  sesterces;  and  in  addition  to  that  he 
had  his  agreement  with  his  colleague  Antonius  who,  in 
consideration  of  the  surrender  to  him  of  his  province 
of  Macedonia,  was  to  send  to  Cicero  a  certain  part  of 
his  gains.  That  subject  was  certainly  alluded  to  in  let- 
ters to  Atticus  (i,  12),  in  which  the  identity  of  Antonius, 
or  his  agent  at  Rome,  was  concealed  under  the  nickname 
Teukris.  But  the  ex-consul  was  not  alone  in  his  financial 
embarrassments.  At  that  moment  the  ex-praetor  Caesar, 
about  to  depart  for  his  new  province  of  Spain  in  order 
to  enrich  himself,  was  threatened  by  certain  of  his  cred- 
itors, instigated  by  his  political  enemies,  with  the  seizure 
of  his  baggage  in  the  event  that  he  failed  to  settle  a 
bundle  of  old  unpaid  bills  of  exchange  held  by  them. 
Not  until  after  Crassus  had  offered  guaranties  that  his 
creditors  could  not  question,  was  the  coming  great  one 
able  to  depart  in  peace.22 

The  contrast  is  certainly  striking  between  the  bank- 
rupt Caesar  and  the  over-rich  Pompey,  who  delayed  until 
September,  61  B.C.,  the  celebration  of  the  most  gorgeous 
triumph  Rome  had  ever  beheld.  The  first  day  was  occu- 
pied with  the  display  of  the  marvelous  jewels,  statues, 
and  money  treasure  of  which  the  conquered  had  been 
despoiled.     By  fresh  tribute  from  the  new  provinces  the 

21  Ad  Fam.,  v,  6.  M  Plut.,  Cues.,  ii ;  App.,  B.  C,  ii,  8. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  197 

revenue  of  the  Republic  had  been  raised  from  fifty  to 
eighty  million  drachmae,  while  some  sixty  million 
drachmae  (£2,500,000)  had  been  brought  back  as  a  lump 
sum  to  be  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  state.  The  second 
day,  Pompey's  birthday,  was  occupied  by  the  display  of 
groups  of  unchained  prisoners,  of  a  crowd  of  princes 
and  hostages,  seven  sons  of  Mithridates,  and  many  Alba- 
nian and  Iberian  chiefs,  followed  by  the  Great  Captain 
himself,  clothed  in  a  tunic  said  to  have  belonged  to  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  and  escorted  by  a  brilliant  guard  on 
horseback  and  on  foot.23 

And  yet  this  statesman  of  the  new  type,  who  had  pur- 
chased the  election  of  his  general  Afranius  as  consul 
for  the  next  year,  with  Celer,  the  brother-in-law  of 
Clodius,  as  his  colleague,  was  wise  enough  at  the  close 
of  the  great  pageant,  to  withdraw  quietly  as  a  private 
citizen  to  his  own  house.  He  was  preparing  to  enter  He  prepares 
politics  —  a  move  that  involved  the  making  of  party  ties  to0j^;ter 
and  the  formation  of  judicious  personal  alliances.  The 
cunning  hand  that  was  to  guide  him  was  that  of  Caesar, 
who  returned  hurriedly  from  Spain  about  the  middle  of 
the  year  60  B.C.  to  stand  as  a  candidate  for  the  consul- 

;  ship  for  59  B.C.  His  horoscope  was  already  cast. 
Roman  expansion  had  before  it  at  that  time  as  possibili- 
ties the  annexation  of  Egypt,  the  invasion  of  Parthia,  and 
last  and  most  important  of  all,  extension  of  dominion 

!  in  Europe  toward  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine. 

Into  that  vast  field  Caesar  was  destined  to  go  in  order   Caesar's 
to  win  such  fame  and  fortune  as  Pompey  had  found  else-   am  mons- 
where.     But  before  he  could  begin  it  was  necessary  for 

1  him  to  attach  himself  to  the  two  most  powerful  men  in 

23  App.,  Mithr.,  116-17;  VUny,  N.H.,  xxxvii,  2,  16;  Plut.,  Pomp.,  45; 
!  Ferrero,  vol.  i,  pp.  278-79. 


198 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Revived 
moderate 
democratic 
party. 


Proposed  a 

quatuor- 

<virate. 


The  three- 
headed  mon- 
ster born. 


Caesar  and 
Bibulus  con- 
suls for  59  B.C. 


the  state,  the  one  the  holder  of  the  purse,  the  other  of 
the  sword.  Fortune  favored  him  when  Ptolemy  Auletes, 
who  had  been  robbed  of  his  kingdom,  resolved  to  offer 
to  Crassus,  Pompey,  and  Caesar  the  enormous  sum  of 
6,000  talents  if  they  would  secure  for  him  from  Rome, 
despite  the  hesitation  of  the  Senate,  recognition  as  a  legiti-. 
mate  sovereign.  In  order  to  secure  adequate  popular 
support  in  a  struggle  with  the  conservatives  in  that  body, 
which  had  not  yet  ratified  Pompey's  administration  in  the 
East,  Caesar  resolved  to  revive  the  moderate  democratic 
party  in  such  a  way  as  to  enable  it  to  secure  the  support 
of  the  upper  and  middle  classes,  as  in  the  year  70  B.C. 

In  order  to  place  his  coalition  on  such  a  basis  as  would 
secure  the  support  of  the  moderate  senators,  actually  a 
majority  of  the  whole,  who  had  assumed  such  a  reaction- 
ary attitude  since  the  conspiracy  of  Catiline,  he  proposed 
to  place  the  direction  of  affairs  in  the  hands  of  a  quatuor- 
virate,  Cicero,  Crassus,  Pompey,  and  Caesar.  The  first 
named  was  told  "that  Caesar  in  all  things  would  avail 
himself  of  Pompey's  counsel  and  my  own,  and  would 
exert  himself  to  bring  about  a  union  of  Crassus  with 
Pompey."24  While  Cicero  was  greatly  flattered,  after 
hesitating,  he  declined.  But  that  failure  did  not  upset 
Caesar's  plan  as  a  whole;  the  "Three-Headed  Monster," 
as  Varro  called  it,  was  born;  the  fame  of  Pompey,  the 
wealth  of  Crassus,  and  the  genius  of  Caesar  were  com- 
bined in  what  would  now  be  called  "a  political  ring," 
an  unofficial  body  that  took  upon  itself  the  entire  direction 
of  public  affairs. 

The  old  hostility  between  Pompey  and  Crassus  was 
broken  down,  a  fact  for  some  time  kept  secret;  Caesar 
was  elected  consul,  with  Bibulus,  a  reactionary  conserva- 

2*  Ad  Att.,  H,  3. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  199 

tive,  as  his  colleague;25  and,  by  a  direct  appeal  to  the 
assembly  of  the  people,  he  secured  the  approval  of  Pom- 
pey's  Asiatic  administration,26  and  the  recognition  of 
Ptolemy  Auletes  as  a  friend  of  the  Roman  people,  divid- 
ing with  his  colleagues  the  great  reward  promised  in  the 
event  of  success.  But,  so  far  as  his  own  fortunes  were 
concerned,  Caesar  at  this  moment  accomplished  some- 
thing of  far  greater  importance.  Very  alarming  news 
had  arrived  from  Gaul;  the  Helvetii  were  in  motion; 
another  Teutonic  invasion  was  on  the  horizon;  and  in  Another 
February  of  cq  B.C.,  Metellus  Celer,  who  as  governor  of   Teu.tomcin- 

J  ->  ?  >  »  vasion  on 

Gaul  was  to  hold  the  supreme  military  command,  had   the  horizon, 
died  suddenly,  possibly  by  poison.27 

Under  such  conditions  Caesar,  backed  by  Crassus  and 
Pompey,  prompted  the  tribune  Vatinius  to  propose  a 
bill  giving  him  the  government  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  and 
Illyria  for  five  years,  with  three  legions,  all  to  date  from 
the  promulgation  of  the  bill,  which  took  place  on  the 
first  of  March.  In  order  to  give  more  stability  to  this 
wonder-working  coalition,  Caesar  persuaded  Pompey,  in  Marriage  of 
April  of  this  year,  to  marry  his  daughter  Julia,  despite  ju>ij1apcyto 
the  fact  that  she  was  at  the  time  betrothed  to  Servilius 
Coepio. 

It  is  all  important  to  note  that  in  placing  himself  in  a   Caesar  fol- 
position  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his  uncle  Marius,    ^l^lot 
as  a  defender  of  Rome  against  the  northern  barbarians,    his  uncle 
Caesar  had  employed  the  power  of  the  people  themselves, 
who  in  their  assembly  had  issued  a  mandate  in  the  form 
of  a   law  which  the  Senate  would  not  have  approved. 
His  policy  was  to  establish  at  Rome  such  a   form  of 
democratic  government,  similar  to  those  of  Greece,  which 

25  The  wits  said  it  was  the  administration  of  Julius  and  Caesar. 

26  Appian,  B.  C,  ii,  13;  Dion,  xxxviii,  7;  Suet.,  Caes.,  20. 

27  Pro  Cael.,  xxiv,  59. 


electoral 
agent 


200  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

could  and  would  act  directly  through  a  popular  assembly 
unhampered  by  senatorial  interference.  In  order  to  give 
stability  to  such  a  system  it  was  necessary  to  maintain  a 
permanent  and  reliable  majority  in  the  assembly,  and 
with  that  end  in  view  Caesar  drew  together  under  the 
leadership  of  Clodius,  elected  tribune  by  his  influence,  the 
worst  elements  of  the  population,  who  were  to  be  mar- 
shaled in  his  absence  as  a  fighting  force  against  the  middle 
and  upper  classes, 
clodius  his  Thus  armed  as  the  departing  consul's  electoral  agent, 

Clodius  was  soon  to  enter  upon  a  year  of  power,  deter- 
mined to  use  it  as  the  instrument  of  his  deadly  hate 
against  Cicero,  who  had  been  assured  by  Pompey  that 
Clodius  had  promised  the  triumvirs  to  take  no  steps 
against  him.28  As  early  as  December  10,  in  the  year 
59  B.C.,  Caesar's  political  manager  began  to  strengthen 
himself  with  the  masses  by  introducing  a  series  of  popu- 
lar measures,  certainly  approved  by  his  chief,  the  first 
of  which  proposed  to  provide  absolutely  free  corn  to 
poor  citizens;  the  second,  to  grant  to  the  working  classes 
at  Rome  complete  freedom  of  association.29 

Not  until  his  hands  had  been  strengthened  by  the  adop- 
tion of  these  measures  did  the  all-powerful  demagogue 
attempt  to  wreak  his  vengeance  on  the  destroyer  of  Cati- 
line. His  first  move  was  made  early  in  the  year  58  B.C., 
when  the  consuls  were  Caesar's  father-in-law,  Piso,  and 
Pompey's  follower,  Gabinius,  whose  characters  had  been 
painted  in  the  darkest  colors  by  Cicero.  He  defined  the 
present  situation  exactly  when  he  wrote:  "Granted  that 
the  power  of  the  Senate  was  unpopular,  what  do  you 
think  it  will  be  now,  when  it  has  been  reduced  to  three 
men  who  acknowledge  no  check?" 

28  Ad  Att.,  ii,  20;  xxii,  2.  20  Lange,  R.  A.,  vol.  iii,  pp.  289^ 


, 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  201 

With  the  game  thus  completely  in  his  own  hands, 
Clodius  came  forward  suddenly  with  a  retroactive  law,80 
in  which  Cicero  was  not  named,  providing  "that  whoever 
has  put  to  death  a  Roman  citizen  uncondemned  in  due 
form  of  trial,  shall  be  interdicted  from  fire  and  water." 
This  bill  of  pains  and  penalties,  in  the  nature  of  a  bill  of  Bill  of  pains 
attainder,  was  called  a  privileqium.  that  is  a  law  of  special   ""P*0*""1 

.        .  against  Cic- 

and  not  general  application.  The  victim  of  such  a  bill  ero  offered, 
was  banished  by  implication  from  all  communion  with 
his  fellow-citizens  —  its  object  being  to  drive  him  into 
exile  without  the  chance  of  an  appeal  to  the  people. 
While  conducting  his  agitation  for  such  a  law, 
Clodius  called  a  contio  outside  the  walls  so  that  Caesar, 
who  was  there  in  command  of  his  legions,  might 
attend  and  express  his  views  as  to  Cicero's  conduct 
during  his  consulship.  He  said  in  answer  to  questions  Caesar  and 
on  that  subject  that,   while   he   condemned,    as  he   had  PomPey 

J  evasive. 

always  done,  the  illegality  of  the  executions  of  Catiline's 
confederates,  as  the  matter  had  long  passed,  he  was 
opposed  to  harsh  and  retroactive  punishments.31 

All  appeals  to  Pompey  were  equally  unavailing.  When 
his  friend  prostrated  himself  at  his  feet  in  his  villa  near 
Albano,  he  said  that  he  could  do  nothing  against  the  will 
of  Caesar;32  that  as  a  private  citizen  he  could  only  refer 
those  who  appealed  to  him  on  this  subject  to  the  consuls. 
The  only  hope  left  was  in  an  appeal  to  the  sympathy  of 
the  people,  and  with  that  end  in  view  Cicero  humbled  Cicero's 
himself  by  passing  through  the  streets  in  mourning  sup-  ^llolh. 
ported  by  the  whole  equestrian  class  garbed  in  the  same 
fashion  —  twenty  thousand  of  the  noblest  youths  in  Rome 

80Livy,  ciii;  Dion,  xxxviii,  14;  Veil.,  ii,  45;  Sihler,  p.  205. 

81  Dion.,  xxxviii,  17 ;  Plut.,  Cic,  30,  4. 

82  Ad  Att.,  x,  4. 


202  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

changing  their  dress  as  a  manifestation  of  sorrow  and 
affection. 

The  counterblast  was  an  edict  from  the  consuls  for- 
bidding public  mourning.  The  Senate  then  passed  a  reso- 
lution that  the  whole  house  should  put  it  on;  and  when 
the  sympathetic  processions  passed  through  the  streets 
the  ruffians  of  Clodius  assailed  them  with  mud  and  stones. 
Under  such  conditions  Lucullus  alone  advised  him  to 
remain  and  face  the  issue;33  if  necessary,  backed  by  his 
friends,  to  fight  in  the  streets  with  the  armed  mobs  of 
Seeks  safety  Clodius.  But  wiser  friends,  such  as  Cato  and  Horten- 
sius,  advised  him  to  go  away  for  a  time,  confident  in  the 
hope  that  in  a  few  days  he  would  return  in  triumph. 
Before  yielding  to  such  counsels,  he  took  from  his  house 
a  valued  statuette  of  Minerva,  goddess  of  wisdom  as 
well  as  of  war,  carried  it  to  the  Capitol,  and  there  set  it 
up  with  the  inscription,  "guardian  of  the  city."34 

It  was  late  in  March  when  he  left  Rome,  accompanied 
beyond  the  walls  by  tearful  friends  who  assured  him  that 
he  would  soon  be  recalled.  On  the  same  day  Clodius 
presented  a  bill  in  the  assembly  interdicting  Cicero  by 
name  from  fire  and  water,  and  providing  that  no  one 
should  receive  him  in  his  house  within  five  hundred  miles 
of  Italy,  a  proviso  changed  to  four  hundred  before  the 
Bill  passed  bill  passed  into  law.35  It  was  further  enacted  that  if 
j"sdtrp0roePderty  he  should  be  seen  within  the  forbidden  limits,  he,  with 
all  who  gave  him  shelter,  might  be  killed  with  impunity. 
After  being  branded  as  a  traitor  to  the  commonwealth, 

33  Ad  Att.,  ill,  15 ;  Ad  Tarn.,  xx,  4.  3*  Mlnervae  Custodi  Urbis. 

85  The  first  section  ran:  "Is  it  your  pleasure,  and  do  you  enact,  that 
M.  Tullius  has  been  interdicted  from  fire  and  water?"  See  Pro  Dotno  Sua, 
18,  47,  as  to  the  use  of  the  perfect  tense  in  the  second  or  declaratory  act, 
which  proceeded  upon  the  assumption  that  Cicero  had  been  outlawed  by 
the  terms  of  the  first  law,  and  that  he  had  acknowledged  his  guilt  by  going 
into  exile. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  203 

his  great  mansion  on  the  Palatine  was  given  to  the  flames, 
and  soon  afterward  his  Formian  and  Tusculan  villas 
were  sacked  and  laid  waste.  Thus  a  great  Roman,  who 
had  only  a  short  time  before  saved  the  life  of  the  state, 
was  outlawed  and  driven  into  exile  by  the  mandate  of  Mandate  of 
the  ancient  popular  assembly  instigated  by  a  clever  and  ^u  " 
dissolute  demagogue  who  was  the  electoral  agent  of 
statesmen  of  the  new  type  who  owed  him  their  sympathy 
and  protection.  In  speaking  of  the  populace  Cicero  once 
said:  "There  are  no  sagacity,  no  penetration,  no  pow- 
ers of  discrimination,  no  perseverance  in  the  common 
people;  the  wise  have  always  regarded  their  acts  rather 
to  be  endured  than  to  be  praised."36 

The  exiled  statesman,  the  spoiled  child  of  fame  and  Cicero 
fortune,  was  now  to  prove  to  the  world  that  Seneca  was  lnexl  e* 
right  when  he  said:  "There  is  no  one  more  unfortunate 
than  the  man  who  has  never  been  unfortunate,  for  it  has 
never  been  in  his  power  to  try  himself."  3T    If  Cicero  had 
been  trained  in  the  hard  school  of  adversity  he  would 
have  consoled  himself  with  the  thought  that,  while  the 
popular  assembly  had  driven  him  like  a  wild  beast  from 
home  and  country,  the  Senate  had,  by  a  special  decree, 
given  him  a  libera  legatio  which  entitled  him  to  travel  His  libera 
with  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  an  ambassador.     •***•■ 
He  was  thus  free  to  roam  in  state  through  his  beloved 
Greece  and  there  accept  the  public  honors  the  Greek  cities 
were  eager  to  bestow  upon  him.     But  like  Rachel  mourn- 
ing for  her  children,  he   refused  to  be  comforted;  he 
refused  to  believe,  with  Ovid,  that  even  in  Greece,  "The 
place  makes  banishment  more  bearable."  38     With  that 

36  Pro  Plancio,  4. 

37  "Nihil  infelicitus  eo,  cui  nihil  unquam  evenit  adversi,  non  licuit  enim 
illi  se  experiri."  —  De  Provld.,  iii. 

38  "Mitius  exilium  faciunt  loca."  —  Ep.  ex  Pont,,  ii,  7,  63. 


204 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Forbidden 
Sicily,  he 
went  to 
Greece. 


First  letter 
to  Terentia. 


His 

lamentation 
to  Atticus. 


passionate  fondness  that  bound  the  ancients  to  their 
cradle  spot,  he  preferred  to  feel  with  Euripides:  "But 
yet  it  is  a  sad  life  to  leave  the  fields  of  our  native 
land."39 

As  the  four-hundred-mile  limit  contained  in  the  Clodian 
law  made  it  imperative  for  him  to  depart  in  haste  from 
the  soil  of  Italy,  he  made  his  way  toward  Sicily,  writing 
on  the  way  to  Atticus:  "I  know  that  the  journey  is  a 
vexatious  one,  but  my  calamity  is  full  of  all  kinds  of 
trouble.  More  I  cannot  write;  I  am  so  distressed  and 
cast  down."40  When  he  was  forbidden  to  go  to  Sicily 
he  sought  Brundusium  as  the  most  convenient  port  from 
which  he  could  cross  to  Greece.  There,  while  sheltered 
by  a  Roman  knight,  Flaccus,  in  defiance  of  the  Clodian 
law,  he  wrote  his  first  letter  to  Terentia : 

Would  that  I  had  been  less  desirous  of  life!  assuredly  I  should 
have  seen  nothing,  or  at  all  events  not  much,  of  misery  in  life. 
But  if  fortune  preserves  to  me  the  hope  of  recovering  any  of  the 
blessings  I  have  lost,  I  have  been  less  guilty  of  error  [referring 
to  suicide,  no  doubt]  ;  but  if  these  evils  admit  of  no  change,  still 
I  wish  to  see  you,  my  life,  as  soon  as  possible,  and  die  in  your 
embrace.41 

To  Atticus,  who  had  counseled  him  against  suicide,  he 
wrote : 

As  to  your  many  fierce  objurgations  of  me  for  my  weakness 
of  mind,  I  ask  you,  what  aggravation  is  wanting  to  my  calamity? 
Who  else  has  fallen  from  so  high  a  position,  in  so  good  a  cause, 
with  so  large  an  intellect,  influence,  popularity,  with  all  good  men 
so  powerfully  supporting  him,  as  I?42 

39  'AW  8/iws 

Olarpos  Tts  al&v  irarptdos  %K\nreiv  Spovs. —  Fr.  Aiol.,  23. 

40  Ad  Att.,  iii,  2. 

41  Ad  Fam.,  xiv,  4. 

42  Ad  Att.,  iii,  10. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  205 

Again  he  says: 

I  have  lived,  I  have  had  my  prime;  it  is  not  a  fault  of  mine, 
it  is  my  very  merit  that  has  overthrown  me.  I  have  nothing  to 
censure  myself  for,  except  that  I  have  not  thrown  away  life  to- 
gether with  its  equipment.  But  if  it  is  best  for  my  children  that 
I  should  live,  let  me  endure  the  rest,  though  it  is  unendurable.43 

Certainly  Plutarch  and  those  who  support  him  in  the 
contention  that  Terentia  was  an  imperious  and  oppressive 
shrew  are  put  upon  the  defensive  when  we  read  such  a 
tender  outburst  as  this: 

Lost  and  afflicted  as  I  am,  why  should  I  ask  you  to  join  me?  Tender out- 
You  a  woman,  weak  in  health,  worn  out  in  body  and  mind!  Yet  ^Y^T" 
must  I  not  ask  you  ?  Can  I  then  exist  without  you  ?  Be  assured 
of  this,  if  I  have  you  I  shall  not  think  myself  wholly  lost.  But 
what  will  become  of  my  darling  Tullia?  Do  you  both  see  to  it. 
I  can  give  no  advice.  And  my  Cicero,  what  will  he  do?  I  can- 
not write  more  —  my  grief  prevents  me.  I  know  not  what  has 
become  of  you  —  whether  you  still  keep  anything  or  have  been 
utterly  ruined.  Farewell,  my  Terentia,  my  most  faithful  and 
best  of  wives!  and  my  dearest  daughter,  and  Cicero,  our  only 
remaining  hope ! 44 

At  the  end  of  April  the  exile  sailed  from  Brundusium 
and,  after  a  stormy  passage,  arrived  at  Dyrrachium  on    FromDyrra- 
the  opposite  coast,  where  he  was  hospitably  received  by   Macedonia 
the  people  whose  patron  he  had  been  at  Rome.     But, 
fearing  to  remain  in  the  neighborhood  of  Autronius  and 
other  followers  of  Catiline  there  in  exile,  he  determined 
to  move  on  to  Macedonia  where  his  friend  Cnaeus  Plan- 
cius  was  praetor.     Accompanied  by  Plancius  he  arrived, 
on  May  23,  in  Thessalonica  on  the  Thracian  Sea,  where  Seven 
he  remained   for  seven  months.     About  this  time   his  ™°nths,at. 

rhessalonica. 

brother  Quintus,  who  was  governor  of  Asia,  was  return- 
ing to  Italy  from  his  province  under  serious  apprehension 

43  Ad  Fam.,  xiv,  4.  44  Ibid.,  xiv,  4. 


206 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Letter  to 
Quintus. 


To  Atticus 
andTerentia. 


of  an  indictrhent  for  provincial  misgovernment  In  order 
to  comfort  his  brother,  who  had  been  sorely  distressed 
because  some  of  his  slaves  had  reached  him  without 
letters,  Marcus  wrote  to  him  on  June  15,  saying: 

To  think  that  you  feared  that  out  of  anger  I  sent  a  messenger 
to  you  without  a  letter,  or  that  I  even  did  not  wish  to  see  you! 
That  I  should  be  angry  with  you!  Could  I  be  angry  with  you? 
Yes!  I  was  unwilling  to  be  seen  by  you.  For  you  would  not 
have  seen  your  brother  —  not  him  whom  you  had  quitted;  not 
him  whom  you  had  known;  not  him  whom  you  left  in  tears  at 
your  departure,  when  you  were  yourself  in  tears  —  not  even  a 
trace  of  him  —  not  a  shadow,  but  the  image  of  a  breathing  corpse.45 

In  September  Cicero  made  up  his  mind  to  go  to  Epirus, 
the  residence  of  his  wise  and  faithful  friend  Atticus, 
whose  ability  to  help  him  had  been  increased  by  a  great 
inheritance  of  ten  million  sesterces  ($440,000)  from  his 
stingy  old  uncle  Caecilius.46  He  arrived  at  Dyrrachium 
on  November  26,  and  on  that  day  wrote  to  Atticus: 

Though  my  brother  Quintus  and  Piso  have  given  me  a  careful 
account  of  what  has  been  done,  yet  I  could  have  wished  that 
your  engagements  had  not  hindered  you  from  writing  fully  to  me, 
as  has  been  your  custom,  what  was  on  foot  and  what  you  under- 
stood to  be  the  facts.  Up  to  the  present,  Plancius  keeps  me  here 
by  his  generous  treatment,  though  I  have  several  times  made  an 
effort  to  go  to  Epirus.47 

On  the  same  day  he  wrote  to  his  wife: 

To  think  that  a  woman  of  your  virtue,  fidelity,  uprightness, 
and  kindness  should  have  fallen  into  such  troubles  on  my  account ! 
And  that  my  little  Tullia  should  reap  such  a  harvest  of  sorrow 

48  Ad  Quint.  Frat.,  i,  3. 

46  Nep.,  Alt.,  5.  Cicero  greets  Q.  Caecilius  Pomponianus  Atticus,  son  of 
Quintus,  in  a  letter  written  at  Thessalonica,  October  4  {Ad  Att.,  iii,  20). 
According  to  custom,  Atticus  took  his  uncle's  praenomen  and  nomen, 
Q.  Caecilius,  retaining  his  own  nomen  in  an  adjectival  form  (Pomponia- 
nus) as  a  cognomen. 

47  Ad  Att.,  iii,  22. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  207 

from  the  father  from  whom  she  used  to  receive  such  abundant 
joys ! 48 

That  he  had  not  lost  all  hope  is  made  plain  by  that 
part  of  the  same  letter  in  which  he  says,  "If  we  have  all 
the  tribunes  [for  57  B.C.],  if  Lentulus  is  as  devoted  as  he 
seems,  if  indeed  we  have  even  Pompey  and  Caesar,  there 
is  no  need  of  abandoning  hope."  The  first  year  of  his 
exile  closed  with  a  visit  from  Atticus  who,  leaving  Rome  visit  from 
in  December  for  his  country  seat  in  Epirus,  stopped  on 
the  way  to  pay  Cicero  a  visit  at  Dyrrachium. 

The  new  year,  57  B.C.,  opened  in  such  a  way  as  to  New  year, 
prove  that  there  was  "no  need  of  abandoning  hope";  the  brought  hope, 
deputations  that  came  to  Rome  from  every  part  of  Italy 
to  plead  for  his  return  made  it  plain  that  the  tide  had 
turned.  Practical  manifestation  of  that  fact  was  given 
when  the  new  consuls,  Lentulus  and  Metellus,  supported 
by  Cotta,  moved  in  the  Senate,  the  moment  after  their 
inauguration,  that  Cicero  should  be  recalled.  When,  Motion  for 
however,  they  suggested  that  as  the  proceedings  against 
him  had  been  entirely  illegal,  no  fresh  law  enabling  him 
to  return  was  necessary,  Pompey  very  properly  suggested 
that  an  edict  of  the  people  (lex)  was  necessary  to  give 
legality  to  what  the  Senate  had  done. 

When  an  effort  was  made  to  pursue  that  course,  one 
of  the  tribunes  interposed  his  veto,  and  in  that  way  the 
bill  was  not  submitted  to  the  assembly  until  January  25, 
when  Clodius  was  ready  with  his  ruffians  to  raise  a  riot 
in  order  to  prevent  a  vote.  Before  the  riot  was  over 
many  lives  were  lost;  the  tribune  Serranus  was  severely 
wounded,  and  Quintus  Cicero  left  for  dead  on  the  ground. 
Nothing  could  more  vividly  illustrate  the  convulsions  in 
which  the  Roman  Republic  died  than  the  following  de- 

48  Ad  Fam.,  xiv,  1. 


recall. 


208 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Descrip- 
tion of  a 
Roman  mob. 


Fundamen- 
tal vice  in 
Roman 
constitution. 


scription  of  the  Roman  mob  that  defied  and  set  aside  the 
constitution  at  the  moment  when  the  Senate,  the  two 
consuls,  all  the  tribunes  except  one,  Pompey  and  Caesar, 
backed  by  all  Italy  were  clamoring  for  Cicero's  recall: 

When  we  speak  of  the  Roman  mob,  we  must  not  forget  that 
it  was  much  more  frightful  than  our  own,  and  was  recruited 
from  more  formidable  elements.  Whatever  just  dismay  the  pop- 
ulace that  emerges  all  at  once  from  the  lowest  quarters  of  our 
manufacturing  cities,  on  a  day  of  riot,  may  cause  us,  let  us  remem- 
ber that  at  Rome  this  inferior  social  stratum  descended  still  lower. 
Below  the  vagabond  strangers  and  starving  workmen,  the  ordinary 
tools  of  revolutions,  there  was  all  that  crowd  of  freedmen  demor- 
alized by  slavery,  to  whom  liberty  had  given  but  one  more  means 
for  evil  doing;  there  were  those  gladiators,  trained  to  fight  beast 
or  man,  who  made  light  of  the  death  of  others  or  themselves; 
there  were  still  lower  those  fugitive  slaves,  who  were  indeed  the 
worst  of  all  classes,  who,  after  having  robbed  or  murdered  at 
home,  and  lived  by  pillage  on  the  road,  came  from  all  Italy  to 
take  refuge  and  disappear  in  the  obscurity  of  the  slums  of  Rome, 
an  unclean  and  a  terrible  multitude  of  men  without  family,  without 
country,  who,  outlawed  by  the  general  sentiment  of  society,  had 
nothing  to  respect  as  they  had  nothing  to  lose.  It  was  among 
these  that  Clodius  recruited  his  bands.49 

In  describing  the  combats  that  often  took  place  during 
electoral  contests  when  such  bands  were  abroad,  Cicero 
says  in  his  exaggerated  style  that:  "The  Tiber  was  full  of 
corpses  of  the  citizens,  the  public  sewers  were  choked  with 
them,  and  they  were  obliged  to  mop  up  with  sponges  the 
blood  that  streamed  from  the  Forum."50  The  funda- 
mental difficulty  was  that  the  Roman  constitution  in  the 
days  of  the  Republic  vested  the  supreme  powers  of  the 
state  in  a  one-chamber  popular  assembly  unrestrained  by 
any  of  the  checks  and  balances  by  which  democracies  are 

49  Bossier,  Cicero  and  His  Friends,  pp.  211-12,  A.  D.  Jones's  trans. 
*°Pro  Sext,  35. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY 


209 


bridled  in  the  modern  world.  Tacitus  affirmed  in  advance 
that  such  a  fabric  as  the  English  constitution  was  impos- 
sible in  practice  when  he  said: 

In  all  the  nations  the  supreme  authority  is  vested  either  in  the 
people,  the  nobles,  or  a  single  individual.  A  constitution  com- 
posed of  these  three  simple  forms  may,  in  theory,  be  praised,  but 
can  never  exist  in  fact,  or  if  it  should,  it  will  be  of  short 
duration.51 

The  only  safeguard  of  the  constitution  of  the  Roman 
Republic  was  in  the  moderation,  the  patriotism,  the  sense 
of  law  of  the  citizen  body  in  which  the  sovereignty  was 
vested.  When  that  citizen  body  was  converted  into  a 
lawless  body  the  Republic  perished,  simply  because  there 
were  no  longer  any  citizens  upon  whom  it  could  depend.52 

Despite  the  earnest  and  persistent  efforts  of  Pompey, 
Lentulus,  Servilius,  and  other  distinguished  men,  backed 
by  the  whole  power  of  the  Senate,  Clodius,  backed  by  his 
publicly  organized  ruffians,  was  able  to  prevent  the  pass- 
age of  the  necessary  law  until  August  4,53  when  it  was  car- 
ried with  scarcely  a  dissenting  voice  by  a  great  popular 
assembly  voting  in  their  centuries  in  the  Campus  Martius, 
where  Clodius  was  at  last  contemptuously  set  aside.  On 
that  very  day  Cicero  left  Dyrrachium,  landing  at  Brundu- 
sium  on  August  5,  the  birthday  of  his  darling  Tullia,54 
who,  just  widowed  by  the  death  of  the  faithful  Piso,  was 
there  to  welcome  him.  The  twenty-four  days  consumed 
in  the  journey  to  Rome  was  a  triumphal  procession,  an 
unbroken  ovation. 

51  Ann.,  iv,  33. 

52  "For  a  very  long  time,"  says  Appian,  "the  Roman  people  was  only 
a  mixture  of  all  the  nations.  The  freedmen  were  confounded  with  the 
citizens,  the  slave  had  no  longer  anything  to  distinguish  him  from  his 
master.  In  short,  the  distributions  of  corn  that  were  made  at  Rome  gathered 
the  beggars,  the  idle,  the  scoundrels  from  all  Italy." — De  Bell.  Civ.,  ii,  120. 

53  The  lex  Cornelia,  proposed  by  Cornelius  Lentulus. 
64  Ad  Att.,  iv,  1. 


Only  safe- 
guard in 
the  people 
themselves. 


Necessary 
law  passed 
August  4, 
57  B.C. 


Triumphal 
procession 
to  Rome. 


X 


210  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Plutarch  says  it  was  no  exaggeration,  yea,  less  than 
the  truth,  when  Cicero  declared  that  he  was  carried  back 
to  Rome  on  the  shoulders  of  Italy.55  As  he  approached 
the  city  in  September  the  Senate  came  to  welcome  him 
beyond  the  walls;  he  was  placed  in  a  gilded  chariot  wait- 
ing to  receive  him  outside  the  gate;  and  as  he  passed 
through  the  Forum  along  the  Via  Sacra  to  the  Capitol 
the  entire  population  went  out  to  receive  him.  To  use 
his  own  words,  "It  seemed  that  all  the  city  was  drawn 
from  its  foundations  to  come  and  salute  its  liberator."  56 
Is  it  strange  that  at  such  a  moment  a  nature  so  emo- 
tional should  have  cried  out:  "I  do  not  feel  as  though  I 
were  simply  returning  from  exile;  I  appear  to  myself  to 
be  mounting  to  heaven"?  Let  us  heartily  enjoy  with  him 
One  day  that  one  day  equivalent  to  immortality  (immortalitatis 

immortality.0  insiar  fuit),  when  all  the  popular  societies  of  Rome  were 
pouring  congratulatory  addresses  upon  him.  Let  us  ban- 
ish the  thought  of  hypocrisy;  let  us  not  say  with  Juvenal: 

Who  could  endure  the  Gracchi  if  they  were  to  rail  at  the 
seditious  mob?  Who  could  not  confound  heaven  with  earth  and 
sea  with  heaven,  if  Verres  were  to  pretend  to  hate  a  thief,  Milo 
a  murderer?  if  Clodius  were  to  decry  adultery,  Catiline  accuse 
Cethegus  of  factious  views?  if  Sulla's  three  pupils  were  to  declaim 
against  Sulla's  proscriptions?57 

Cicero  was  forced  to  descend  rapidly  from  his  heavenly 
heights;  he  was  forced  to  realize  that  he  had  made  no 
mistake  when  he  said: 

As  the  sea,  which  is  calm  when  left  to  itself,  is  excited  and 
turned  up  by  the  fury  of  the  winds,  so,  too,  the  Roman  people,  of 
itself  placable,  is  as  easily  roused  by  the  language  of  demagogues 
as  by  the  most  violent  storms.58 

65  Cic,  xxxiii.  B7  Sat.,  ii,  8. 

9*  44,  Att.,  iv,  i,  58  Fro  Cluent.,  49. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  211 

His  remorseless  and  resourceful  enemy  Clodius  was   Clodius 
ready  and  waiting  for  him  at  the  head  of  the  rabble  that   ready ,to  "" 

'  °  new  the  right. 

had  ruled  during  the  three  years  of  anarchy  which  fol- 
lowed the  seizure  by  the  triumvirate  of  the  government 
of  the  Republic.     But  before  he  was  called  upon  to  renew 
the  fight  with  Clodius,  he  appeared  in  the  Senate  on  Sep-  Speech  in 
tember  5,  the  day  after  his  return,  where  he  offered  the   September's 
profoundest  thanks  to  his  friends  and  the  bitterest  abuse 
to  his  enemies,  attacking  with  special  violence  Gabinius 
and  Piso,  nominees  of  Pompey  and  Caesar,  who  had  been 
consuls  during  the  preceding  year.     On  the  same  day  he 
addressed  the  people  in  the  Forum  in  a  speech  fa  contio) 
known  as  the  oration  Ad  Quirites,  expressing  the  same  Oration 
general  line  of  thought,  but  in  a  more  moderate  vein.  The        Unites. 
undertone  of  both  discourses  was  embodied  in  the  assur- 
ance that  the  safety  of  the   Republic  which   had  been 
endangered  by  his  absence  was  made  secure  by  his  return: 

Therefore,  when  I  was  absent,  the  Republic  was  in  such  a 
state  that  you  thought  that  I  and  it  were  equally  necessary  to  be 
restored.  But  I  thought  that  there  was  no  republic  at  all  in  a 
city  in  which  the  Senate  had  no  influence  —  in  which  there  was 
impunity  for  every  crime  —  where  there  were  no  courts  of 
justice,  but  violence  and  arms  bore  sway  in  the  Forum  —  where 
private  men  were  forced  to  rely  on  the  protection  of  the  walls  of 
their  houses,  and  not  on  that  of  the  laws.  Therefore,  after  the 
Republic  was  banished,  I  thought  that  there  was  no  room  for  me 
in  this  city;  and  if  the  Republic  was  restored,  I  had  no  doubt  that 
it  would  bring  me  back  in  its  company.59 


riots. 


Upon  the   heels   of  these   orations   came   the   famine   The  famine 
riots60  in  which  armed  and  trained  bands  of  desperadoes 

59  Ad  Quirit.,  6. 

60  There  had  been  a  deficiency  of  grain  in  the  provinces,  especially  in 
Sicily,  from  which  Rome  drew  her  main  supply.  —  Ad  Att.,  iv,  I.  The 
streets,  even  the  Forum,  were  so  insecure  that  Cicero  did  not  dare  to  stir 
abroad. 


212  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

led  by  Clodius  went  to  the  Capitol  and  attacked  the  sen- 
ators with  stones.  In  the  midst  of  such  scenes  Cicero 
proposed  that  a  law  should  be  submitted  to  the  people 
giving  to  Pompey  for  five  years  the  absolute  power  to 
regulate  the  importation  of  grain  from  every  part  of  the 
world,  a  measure  so  enlarged  before  its  adoption  as  to 
give  the  great  one  unlimited  funds,  a  fleet,  an  army,  and 
such  authority  over  the  provinces  as  would  supersede  that 
of  their  actual  governors.61 
Ciceroturned  In  that  way  Cicero,  who  began  by  attempting  to  steer  a 
fromtheans-  j^jjjjg  C0Urse  between  his  old  allies,  the  aristocracy,  and 

tocracy  to  the  J 

triumvirs.  the  triumvirs,  now  turned  to  the  latter,  despite  the  recent 
cruelties  he  had  suffered  at  their  hands,  as  he  was  advised 
to  do  by  the  shrewd  Atticus  and  his  brother  Quintus.  The 
aristocracy  could  never  forgive  him  for  being  a  "new 
man,"  a  fact  emphasized  by  the  coldness  with  which  they 
had  received  the  enthusiastic  demonstrations  by  which 
he  had  been  honored  upon  his  return,  and  by  the  stingy 
spirit  in  which  they  proposed  to  compensate  him  for  the 
losses  of  his  property.  He  was  also  made  to  feel  that 
he  was  an  object  of  envy;  he  said  "those  who  have  clippec 
my  wings  are  sorry  to  see  them  grow  again." 

In  the  midst  of  these  mental  perplexities  Cicero  was 
still  pursued  by  Clodius  who,  after  destroying  his  house 
on  the  Palatine,62  had  hoped  to  keep  the  owner  out  of 
possession  of  the  ground  by  building  upon  it  a  temple 
dedicated  to  Liberty,  levelling  at  the  same  time  the  adjoin- 

81  Ad  Att.,  iv,  i. 

62  The  house  of  Clodius,  near  to  that  of  Cicero  on  the  Palatine,  was 
more  magnificent,  having  cost,  it  is  said,  the  enormous  sum  of  14,800,000 
sesterces,  or  about  £130,000.  Its  owner  had  adorned  it  with  Greek  paintings 
and  statues.  —  Plin.,  N.  H.,  xxxvi,  24,  §  2 ;  Cic,  Pro  Dom.,  43.  The  house  of 
Cicero  was  a  little  lower  down  the  hill,  a  circumstance  which  explains  his 
threat  to  increase  its  height,  so  as  to  shut  out  Clodius  from  a  view  of  the 
city:  "Tollam  altius  tectum,  non  ut  ego  te  despiciam,  sed  ne  tu  aspicias, 
urbem  earn,  quam  detere  voluisti."  —  De  Harusp.  Res.,  15. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  213 

ing  portico  of  Catulus,  a  monument  of  his  victory  over 
the  Cimbrians.    As  the  land  had  been  thus  dedicated  ad 
pios  usus,  a  question  was  made  for  the  decision  of  the 
college  of  pontiffs,  to  which  Cicero  addressed  in  Septem- 
ber, 57  B.C.,  the  oration  known  as  Pro  Domo  Sua,  which   Oration  Pro 
he  considered  his  very  best  effort  —  a  brilliant  retrospect      omo  ua" 
full  of  invaluable  historical  data  intermingled  with  burn- 
ing invectives  against  those  who  had  wronged  him.     As 
the  main  question  turned  upon  the  legality  of  the  conse-   Mainques- 
cration,  the  pleader  attempted  to  establish  illegality  by  de"idejt 
proving  that  the  illegally  elected  tribune  Clodius  could 
not  consecrate  anything.     That  point  of  law  the  college 
left  to  the  Senate  by  deciding  simply  that  if  he  who  per- 
formed the  office  of  consecration  was  not  legally  author- 
ized to  do  so,  then  the  area  in  question  should  be  returned 
to  Cicero,63  who  was  indemnified  by  a  senatorial  decree 
that  his  damage  should  be  born  by  the  state  and  his  house 
rebuilt  at  the  public  expense. 

When,  in  January,  56  B.C.,  the  comitia  elected  aediles, 
among  the  winners  was  Clodius,  who  was  quick  to  sug- 
gest, in  a  harangue  to  the  people,  after  the  college  of 
soothsayers  had  declared  that  some  deity  had  been  of- 
fended because  consecrated  places  had  been  devoted  to 
profane  uses,64  that  the  real  culprit  was  Cicero  who  had 
pulled  down  the  temple  of  Liberty  on  the  site  upon  which 
his  new  house  was  being  erected.  When  the  Senate,  thus 
prompted,  resolved  that  the  consuls  should  bring  in  a  bill   Oratlon.D' 

,  .  .  Haruspicum 

on  the  subject  of  sacred  places,  Cicero  delivered  the  ora-  Responsis. 

83  The  pontiffs  said:  "If  neither  by  a  command  of  the  free  burghers,  in 
a  lawful  assembly  (populi  jussu),  nor  by  plebiscite,  he  who  avers  that  he 
dedicated  the  site  to  religious  uses  had  specific  authority  given  him  to  do  so, 
and  has  done  it  without  such  authority,  we  are  of  opinion  that  that  part  of 

i  the  site  which  has  been  so  dedicated  may,  without  any  violation  of  religion, 
be  restored  to  Cicero."  —  Ad  Alt.,  iv,  2. 

84  Lange,  vol.  iii,  p.  329. 


214 


A  critical 
moment  in 
Caesar's 
career. 


Meeting  at 
Luca  with 
Cicero. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

tion  known  as  De  H aruspicum  Responsis,  in  which,  after 
tearing  to  tatters  the  dreadful  past  of  the  brother  of  the 
Clodias,  he  exhorted  all  citizens  of  every  class  to  put 
aside  their  mutual  animosities  as  the  best  means  of  regain- 
ing the  favor  of  the  gods  and  their  former  prosperity. 
Despite  his  recent  attempt  to  murder  him  in  the  streets, 
Clodius  had  not  cowed  Cicero.  He  said  in  the  speech  in 
question : 

But  my  hatred  for  Clodius  is  not  greater  this  day  than  it  was 
then,  when  I  knew  that  he  was  scorched  as  it  were  with  those 
holy  fires,  and  that  he  had  escaped  in  female  attire  from  the  house 
of  the  Pontifex  Maximus,  after  attempting  an  act  of  atrocious 
licentiousness. 

That  Pontifex  Maximus  was  now  Rome's  most  con- 
spicuous general  at  the  head  of  legions  in  Gaul,  where  he 
was  trying  to  eclipse  the  military  fame  of  Pompey  by  add- 
ing vast  areas  beyond  the  Alps  to  the  Empire.  This  was  a 
critical  moment  in  Caesar's  career.  He  had  been  alarmed 
by  reports  that  had  reached  him  of  the  possible  repeal  of 
his  agrarian  law;  of  a  growing  feeling  of  hostility  against 
the  coalition;  and  above  all  he  was  eager  to  have  his  com- 
mand renewed  for  five  years.  A  proposition  had  been 
made  in  the  Senate  to  recall  Piso  and  Gabinius  from  their 
proconsular  provinces,  and  that  Caesar  should  also  be 
deprived  of  the  government  of  the  two  Gauls  which  were 
to  be  assigned  to  the  new  consuls  elect. 

On  April  5,  Cicero  himself  had  moved  that  on  May  15 
the  Senate,  if  there  was  a  full  house,  should  discuss 
Caesar's  Campanian  land  law.  And  so,  when  he  met 
Caesar  at  Luca,  where  the  alliance  between  the  three  self- 
constituted  rulers  of  Rome  was  renewed,  the  latter  ex- 
pressed his  resentment  in  these  terms,  which  Cicero  has 
preserved  for  us: 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  215 

There  Caesar  complained  much  of  my  motion  [of  April  5], 
for  he  had  previously  also  seen  Crassus  and  had  by  him  been 
inflamed  against  me.  It  was  indeed  a  well-established  fact  that 
Pompey  was  seriously  displeased  with  it,  which  I,  while  I  had 
heard  it  from  others,  learned  particularly  from  my  brother.  When 
Pompey  met  him  [in  Sardinia]  a  few  days  after  leaving  Luca, 
he  said,  "You  are  the  very  man  I  want  to  see,  nothing  more  suit- 
able could  happen:  unless  you  confer  earnestly  with  your  brother 
Marcus,  you  must  pay  what  you  have  pledged  for  him."  Why 
make  a  long  story  of  it  ?  He,  Pompey,  complained  bitterly,  called 
to  mind  his  own  services,  his  frequent  conferences  with  my  brother 
himself  concerning  the  acts  of  Caesar,  and  guaranties  which  he 
[Quintus]  had  given  to  him  [Pompey]  about  myself:  all  this  he 
called  to  mind.65 

Under  such  pressure  Cicero,  seriously  embarrassed  by 
financial  difficulties,  clearly  understood  that  his  old  friends 
in  the  Senate  would  do  little  or  nothing  to  help  him. 
Alluding  of  course  to  Pompey  and  Caesar,  he  says  in  one 
of  his  letters: 

Since  those  who  have  no  power  will  not  be  my  friends,  let  me  Who  turned 

try  to  be  friends  with  those  who  have  the  power.  to  \°™Pey 

and  Caesar. 

He  adds: 

I  see  clearly  now  that  I  have  been  only  an  ass  \_scio  me  asinum 
germanum  fuisse].  But  it  is  now  time  for  me  to  take  care  of 
myself,  since  I  cannot  in  the  least  rely  on  their  friendship.68 

That  he  felt  keenly  the  humiliation  of  his  position  we 
know  from  that  letter  to  Atticus  in  which  he  says : 

For  what  is  worse  than  our  life?  Especially  mine!  For  you,  Hisfeelingof 
indeed,  although  you  are  by  nature  "political,"  are  tied  to  no  humiliation, 
party  nor  bound  to  public  servitude.  You  enjoy  merely  the  gen- 
eral name  of  statesman.  What  grief,  however,  must  I  feel?  I, 
who  if  I  say  what  I  ought  about  politics,  am  thought  mad;  if 
what  is  expedient,  servile ;  if  I  keep  silence,  utterly  done  for  and 
laid  on  the  shelf.  And  the  worst  of  it  is  that  I  dare  not  express 
my  grief  lest  I  should  appear  ungrateful. 

65  Ad  Tarn.,  i,  9.  Cf.  Sihler,  p.  233.  66  Ad  Att,  iv,  5. 


56  B.c 


216  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

He  once  said: 

To  yield  to  the  times,  that  is,  to  obey  necessity,  has  always 
been  regarded  as  the  act  of  a  wise  man. 

Such  were  the  conditions  under  which  Cicero,  early  in 
June,  56  B.C.,  spoke  in  Caesar's  favor  in  the  Senate  in  the 
Oration  De     oration  known  as  De  Provinciis  Consularibus,  when  his 
Consulari-      recall,  as  well  as  that  of  Piso  and  Gabinius,  was  in  ques- 
!"!'June'        t'on"     Turning  savagely  upon  the  provincial  administra- 
tion of  the  last  two,  after  declaring  that  he  would  not 
permit  his  desire  for  personal  revenge  to  influence  his 
public  duty,  he  said : 

Do  you  not  think  that  you  ought  to  recall  those  men  from 
their  provinces,  even  if  you  had  no  one  to  send  in  their  places? 
Would  you,  could  you  retain  there  these  two  pests  of  the  allies, 
these  men  who  are  the  destruction  of  the  soldiers,  the  ruin  of 
the  farmers  of  the  revenue,  the  desolators  of  the  provinces,  the 
disgracers  of  the  Empire? 

When  taunted  by  the  suggestion  that  he  should  be  no 
more  hostile  to  Gabinius  than  to  Caesar,  he  answered  that 
he  must  not  put  his  personal  wrongs  before  the  public 
welfare. 

A  most  important  war  [he  said]  has  been  waged  in  Gaul;  very 
mighty  nations  have  been  subdued  by  Caesar;  but  they  are  not  yet 
established  with  laws,  or  with  any  fixed  system  of  rights,  or  by 

peace  which  can  be  thoroughly  depended  on If  a  successor 

is  appointed  to  him,  there  is  great  danger  that  we  may  hear  that 
the  embers  of  this  momentous  war  are  again  fanned  into  flame 

and  rekindled Even  that  great  man,  Caius  Marius,  whose 

godlike  and  amazing  valor  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  Roman 
people  in  many  of  its  distresses  and  disasters,  was  content  to  check 
the  enormous  multitudes  of  Gauls  who  were  forcing  their  way 
into   Italy,   without  endeavoring  to  penetrate  himself  into  their 

cities  and  dwelling-places Nature  had  previously  protected 

Italy  by  the  Alps,  not  without  some  especial  kindness  of  the  gods 


consuls  fot 
55  B.C. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  217 

providing  us  with  such  a  bulwark.  For  if  that  road  had  been 
open  to  the  savage  disposition  and  vast  numbers  of  the  Gauls,  this 
city  would  never  have  been  the  home  and  chosen  seat  of  the  empire 
of  the  world.87 

Caesar  kept  his  command  in  Gaul,  while  Pompey  and  Caesar  kept 
Crassus  became  consuls  for  the  following  year,  55  B.C.,   ^8p°™™and 
the  two  Spains  and  Africa  being  assigned  to  the  former,    and  Crassus 
and  Syria  to  the  latter.    But  Pompey's  provinces  were  left 
to  his  legates;  and  as  the  year  54  B.C.  brought  with  it  a 
renewal  of  the  riots,  the  Senate,  backed  by  all  the  better 
elements,  prevailed  upon  him  to  remain  at  home  in  order 
to  preserve  order  by  his  influence. 

Crassus  went  to  his  province;  and  in  the  summer  of  the 
year  53  B.C.  the  news  fell  upon  Rome  like  a  thunderbolt   Death  of 
that  he  with  a  great  part  of  his  army  had  perished  in  the   Crassusln 
sands  beyond  the  Euphrates,  victims  to  the  archery  of  the 
wily  Parthians.68     With  the  father  fell  the  son  Publius 
who  was  a  member  of  the  college  of  augurs.     To  that 
vacant  and  long-coveted  office  Cicero  was  now  named  by  Cicero 
Pompey   and   Hortensius,69   holding   it   during  the   last  c  osen 

r    J  .  .  augur. 

decade  of  his  life,  and  giving  to  its  traditions  serious 
study,  despite  the  mass  of  forensic  business  which  recent 
years  had  cast  upon  him.70 

The  news  of  Caesar's  victories  had  made  a  profound  Profound 
impression  at  Rome,  because  they  were  discoveries  as  well   ™^" a"*"1 
as  victories.    This  consummate  politician  and  man  of  the   Rome  by 
world,  with  a  brilliant  talent  for  letters,  who  resolved   vjctorjes# 
at  forty-four  to  outshine  Pompey  as  a  military  leader, 
had  during  the  six  years  that  intervened  between  58  and 
52  B.C.  conquered  the  Helvetii  at  Autun;  cut  the  Germans 

67  De  Provinciis  Consularibus,  viii,  13,  14. 
88  Plut.,  Crass.,  xxxiii ;  Dion,  xl,  25. 
8»  II  Phil.,  2. 
T0  See  Ad  Fam.,  xv,  4. 


2l8 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Two  inva- 
sions of  Brit- 
ain and  the 
Commen- 
taries. 


Quintus  in 

Caesar's 

camp. 


under  Ariovistus  to  pieces  near  Muhlhausen ;  scattered  the 
Belgae  to  the  winds;  conquered  the  Veneti;  built  a  bridge 
across  the  Rhine,  making  that  river  the  boundary  of  the 
Empire;  and,  above  all,  had  impressed  so  profoundly  the 
language,  laws,  and  institutions  of  Rome  upon  the  con- 
quered as  to  give  a  Roman  form  to  the  civilization  of 
France  which  has  survived  until  the  present  time. 

As  incidental  achievements  may  be  mentioned  Caesar's 
two  invasions  of  Britain  and  the  writing  of  his  immortal 
Commentaries,  relating  in  seven  books  the  history  of  the 
first  seven  years  of  the  Gallic  war,  composed,  no  doubt, 
in  the  course  of  his  campaigns,  and  probably  cast  in  their 
present  form  during  his  stay  in  winter-quarters.71  Among 
Caesar's  lieutenants,  called  his  tent-comrades  (contuber- 
nales),  were  many  cultivated  men  of  letters,  personal 
friends  of  Cicero,  who  kept  up  a  constant  communication 
with  him  as  the  official  patron  of  literature  at  Rome.72 
In  the  midst  of  that  coterie  was  his  own  brother  Quintus 
who  had  such  a  passion  for  poetry  that,  during  the  winter 
in  which  he  was  fighting  the  Nervii,  he  composed  four 
pieces  in  sixteen  days. 

But  the  most  literary  man  of  them  all  was  the  great 
general  himself,  who,  according  to  Fronto,  "busied  him- 
self with  the  formation  of  words  while  arrows  were  cleav- 
ing the  air,  and  sought  the  laws  of  language  amid  the  dir 
of  clarions  and  trumpets."     It  was  Caesar's  literary  tastt 
that  made  him  eager  for  Cicero's  friendship,  knowing,  oi 
course,  his  power  over  public  opinion,  and  the  value  of  hi< 
eloquent  words  when  sounding  the  praises  of  his  great 

71  It  is  now  agreed  that  the  Commentarii  de  Bella  Galileo  were  pub- 
lished in  51  B.C. 

72  Cicero  made  no  mistake  when  he  said  one  day  to  Caesar:  "After  our 
time  there  will  be  great  debates  about  you,  as  there  have  been  among  our- 
selves."—  Pro  Marcello,  ix. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY 


219 


friend 
Trebatius. 


achievements.  In  addition  to  his  brother,  Cicero  had  also  Also  Cicero's 
his  friend  Trebatius  near  Caesar;  and  his  letters  to  them, 
which  introduce  us  further  into  the  private  life  of  the  con- 
queror of  Gaul,  supplement  the  Commentaries.  Cicero 
had  sent  Trebatius  to  Caesar  with  a  cordial  letter  of  rec- 
ommendation in  which  he  said: 

I  do  not  ask  of  you  the  command  of  a  legion,  or  a  government 
for  him.  I  ask  for  nothing  definite.  Give  him  your  friendship, 
and  if  afterward  you  care  to  do  something  for  his  fortune  and 
his  glory  I  shall  not  be  displeased.73 

In  the  midst  of  his  great  affairs  Caesar  joked  with  his 
friends  and  permitted  them  to  write  to  him  "familiarly 
and  without  subserviency,"  his  answers  being  "full  of 
politeness,  kind  attention,  and  charm." 

Such  were  the  relations  between  Cicero  and  Caesar 
when  the  time  came  for  the  latter  to  draw  away  from 
Pompey,  who  affected  a  haughty  and  imperious  tone  that 
tended  to  alienate  everybody.  The  first  break  came  when 
in  September,  54  B.C.,  Julia,  the  daughter  of  Caesar  and 
the  wife  of  Pompey,  died.  After  the  death  of  Crassus  in 
the  following  year  it  became  manifest  that  Pompey  was 
drawing  nearer  to  Cato  as  an  ally,  and  was  becoming 
more  disposed  to  act  as  the  champion  of  the  Senate, 
regardless  of  Caesar.  That  tendency  was  strengthened 
by  the  growth  of  anarchy  and  confusion  at  Rome,  which 
prompted  even  strict  constitutionalists  like  Cicero  to  speak 
of  the  necessity  for  investing  Pompey  with  something  like 
a  dictatorship  for  the  preservation  of  order.74 

The  year  52  B.C.,  which  opened  without  consuls,  and 
with  the  murder  of  Clodius  by  Milo,  precipitated  that 
result  when,  as  heretofore  pointed  out  in  the  account  given 
of  the  trial   of  Milo,   Pompey  became  the   "savior  of 

79  Ad  Fam.,  vii,  5.  7i  Plut.,  Pomp.,  54;  Ad  Quint  Trat.,  iii,  8. 


Break  be- 
tween Caesar 
and  Pompey 
when  Julia 
died. 


Pompey, 
"savior  of 
society,"  as 
sole  consul. 


220 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


The  inevita- 
ble conflict. 


Cicero  pro- 
consul of 
Cilicia  for 
51  B.C. 


society,"  by  an  election  as  sole  consul,  his  provincial  com- 
mand being  at  the  same  time  prolonged  for  five  years,  and 
fresh  troops  assigned  him.75 

Thus  Pompey  was  actually  drawn  into  a  close  alliance 
with  that  powerful  party  in  the  Senate  which,  alarmed  by 
the  rise  of  Caesar,  was  determined  to  force  Pompey  to 
lead  the  attack  upon  him  which  could  not  be  made 
without  him. 

From  that  time  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war 
a  collision  became  inevitable,  despite  Caesar's  efforts  to 
avert  it,  between  the  two  rival  statesmen  of  the  new 
type — "the  type  of  a  military  chief  at  the  head  of  a 
devoted  army  which  he  controls  by  his  money  and  by  the 
sword." 

Under  a  law  which  Pompey  had  revived  as  to  procon- 
sular governments  —  providing  that  no  ex-consul  could 
assume  such  a  command  until  after  the  expiration  of  five 
years  measured  from  the  end  of  his  term ;  and  that,  in  the 
meantime,  the  provinces  should  be  administered  by  those 
who  had  not  held  such  posts  —  Cicero  was  forced  to 
accept76  the  proconsulate  of  Cilicia  for  the  year  51  B.C., 
leaving  Terentia  behind,  and  taking  with  him  his  brother 
Quintus  as  legate,  and  the  Greek  grammaticus  Dionysius 
as  tutor  to  his  son  and  nephew.77  He  went  away  owing 
Caesar  800,000  sesterces,  the  payment  of  which  he  en- 
trusted to  Atticus;78  and  on  the  way  to  Brundusium  he 
spent  three  days  with  Pompey.  "I  left  him,"  he  says,  "in 
an  excellent  frame  of  mind,  and  thoroughly  prepared  to 
ward  off  the  danger  that  is   feared"79  —  referring,   no 


76  Plut.,  Pomp.,  56 ;  App.,  B.  C,  ii,  24. 

76  "Contra  voluntatem  meam  et  praeter  opinionem." 

77  Ad  AtU,  v,  3  ;  v,  9. 

78  Ibid.,  v,  1. 

79  Ibid.,  v,  7. 


Ad  Fam.,  iii,  2. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  221 

doubt,  to  a  possible  collision  between  the   Senate  and 
Caesar. 

He  arrived  at  Athens  on  June  25,  after  an  absence  Arrived  at 
of  about  twenty-eight  years,  and  at  Laodicea  on  July  2?2J!i!!?t 
31,    dating    from    that   day   his    term    which    he  hoped  of  twenty- 
would  not  last  more  than  a  year.     In  a  letter  expressing  elg    year8# 
his  longings  for  the  Forum,  his  home  and  friends,  he  told 
Atticus   that   "the   saddle   had  been  put  on  the   wrong 
horse."80     It  was  his  good  fortune  to  succeed  Appius 
Claudius,    a    most    rapacious    ruler,    who    had    nearly 
ruined  the  province  by  monstrous  conduct,  which  Cicero 
told  Atticus  was  less  like  that  of  a  man  than  that  of  a 
beast. 

In  the  midst  of  the  ruin  thus  wrought  he  resolved  to  be 
so  considerate  of  the  suffering  provincials  as  not  to  exact 
even  his  legal  perquisites,  thus  winning  for  himself  un- 
bounded popularity.     If  in  home  politics  he  was  at  times 
wavering  and   irresolute,    his   conspicuous   honesty   and    Conspicuous 
humanity  in  the  midst  of  great  temptations  place  him   {j°„*|Jitarnd 
above  all  the  provincial  administrators  of  his  time.     The 
provincials  found  in  him  such  a  ruler  as  they  had  never 
known  before,  because  he  recognized  the  fact  that  "Noth- 
ing is  more  praiseworthy,  nothing  more  suited  to  a  great 
and  illustrious  man  than  placability  and  merciful  dispo- 
sition."    Such  nobleness  was  gravely  belittled,  however, 
by  an  unbecoming  thirst  for  military  glory  which  grew  out   Thirst  for 
of  his  besetting  sin,  vanity,  after  some  decided  successes   n)10)tary 
had  been  won   over  the   Parthians   through   operations 
carried  on  chiefly  by  his  brother  Quintus,  who  was  an 
experienced  soldier.    Everything  was  reported  with  great 
pomp  to  the  Senate  in  the  hope  that  first  supplications  in 
honor  of  victory  and  finally  a  triumph  would  follow,  the 

80  Ad  Att.,  5,  15:  "Clitellae  bovi  sunt  impositae." 


222 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


only  honor  he  had  not  enjoyed.  Only  a  supplicatio,81  or 
thanksgiving  in  honor  of  his  successes,  was  decreed;  and 
that  was  postponed  until  the  following  year. 

His  greatest  longing,  perhaps,  was  for  his  return,  for 
which  he  was  now  preparing  at  the  end  of  an  administra- 
tion so  frugal  that  a  surplus  of  2,200,000  sesterces  (about 
$98,800)  remained,  as  his  strictly  legal  perquisites,  be- 
yond the  sum  voted  by  the  Senate  for  his  expenses.  That 
sum,  deposited  with  Roman  bankers  at  Ephesus,82  was 
loaned  to  Pompey,  and  lost  in  the  civil  war,  then  looked 
for  within  a  year.     Caelius  wrote: 

The  issue  be-  This  is  the  issue  about  which  the  men  who  have  control  of 
tween  Caesar  ^g  g0vernment  are  going  to  fight,  viz.,  because  Pompey  has  re- 
solved not  to  suffer  it  that  Caesar  shall  become  consul  in  any 
other  way  but  that  of  surrendering  army  and  provinces.  But 
Caesar  is  convinced  that  he  cannot  be  safe  if  he  leaves  his  army: 
still  he  offers  the  terms  that  both  shall  surrender  their  armies.83 

With  that  prospect  ahead  of  him  Cicero  began  his 
journey  homeward,  stopping  at  Rhodes,  where  he  heard 
of  the  death  of  his  old  friend  and  rival  Hortensius,  and 
at  Athens  where  he  received  a  letter  only  twenty-one  days 
old  84  from  his  wife,  Terentia.  He  arrived  at  Brundusium 
the  last  week  in  November;  and  on  December  II,  while 
traveling  slowly  northward,  he  met  Pompey.  "We  were 
two  hours  together,"  he  said.  "Pompey  was  delighted  at 
my  arrival.  He  spoke  of  my  triumph  and  promised  to  do 
his  part.  He  advised  me  to  keep  away  from  the  Senate 
till  it  was  arranged,  lest  I  should  offend  the  tribunes."85 

81  Even  Cato  favored  it.  —  Ad  Fam.,  xv,  6. 

82  Ad  Fam.,  v,  20. 

83  Ibid.,  viii,   14. 

84  Ibid.,  xiv,  5.  Reference  may  here  be  made  to  O.  E.  Schmidt's  pre 
liminary  discourse  prefixed  to  his  edition  of  Cicero's  correspondence 
from  51-44  B.C.:  Der  Briefivechsel  des  M.  Tullius  Cicero  von  seinem  Pro 
consulat  in  Cilicien  bis  zu  Caesar's  Ermordung,  Leipzig,  1893. 

85  Ad  Att.,  vii,  4. 


Cicero, 

returning, 

meets 

Pompey. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  223 

On  December  27,  he  had  a  second  conference  with  Pom- 
pey  at  Formiae,  who  seemed  to  have  neither  hope  nor 
desire  for  peace. 

For  he  thinks  thus:  If  Caesar  be  made  consul,  even  after  he 
was  parted  from  his  army,  the  constitution  will  be  at  an  end. 
He  thinks,  also,  that  when  Caesar  hears  of  the  preparations 
against  him,  he  will  drop  the  consulship  for  this  year,  to  keep  his 
province  and  troops.88 

Cicero  reached  the  gates  of  Rome  January  4,  49  B.C.,   Reached  the 
remaining  without  for  nearly  two  months  in  a  state  of  |ome°janu- 
doubt  and  hesitation.87    The  claim  he  was  still  making  for  ary4,49B.c. 
a  triumph  gave  him  a  valid  legal  excuse  for  that  course 
which  relieved  him  of  the  embarrassment  at  this  critical 
moment  that  a  seat  in  the  Senate  would  have  imposed 
upon  him. 

After  the  death  of  Caesar's  daughter  Julia,  Pompey   Pompey's 
allied  himself  more  closely  with  the  aristocracy  by  marry-   J^Jj^* 
ing  into  the  noble  family  of  the  Metelli,  and  during  his    aristocracy, 
third  consulship,  with  his  father-in-law,  Caecilius  Metel- 
lus  Pius,  as  a  colleague,  he  strengthened  his  position  and 
recovered  lost  ground  by  an  energetic  policy.    As  the  tre-   Contempt  for 
mendous  crisis  approached,  he  seemed  to  be  both  confident   ^J!*"  JJj  " 
and  defiant,  expressing  in  his  conference  with  Cicero  at 
Formiae    great    contempt    for    Caesar    as    a    military 
opponent. 

Should  he  be  so  insane  as  to  try  extremities,  Pompey  holds  him 
in  utter  contempt,  I  thought,  when  he  was  speaking,  of  the  uncer- 
tainties of  war;  but  I  was  relieved  to  hear  a  man  of  courage 
and  experience  talk  like  a  statesman  of  the  dangers  of  an  insincere 
settlement.  Not  only  he  does  not  seek  for  peace,  but  he  seems  to 
fear  it.  My  own  vexation  is,  that  I  must  pay  Caesar  my  debt, 
and  spend  thus  what  I  had  set  apart  for  my  triumph.  It  is 
indecent  to  owe  money  to  a  political  antagonist.88 

••  Ad  An.,  vii,  8.  87  Ad  Tarn.,  xvi,  11.  88  Ad  Att.,  vii,  8. 


224 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero  re- 
veals his 
doubts  and 
fears  to 
Atticus. 


Caesar's  pro- 
posal at  the 
beginning 
of  49  B.C. 


In  Cicero's  frequent  letters  to  Atticus,  written  between 
the  middle  of  December,  50  B.C.,  and  the  end  of  June, 
49  B.C.,  we  have  a  picture  of  the  interior  of  his  mind 
with  all  the  doubts  and  hesitations  that  beset  him  at  the 
moment  when,  by  prejudice  and  conviction,  he  was  in- 
clined to  follow  Pompey,  while  debating  with  himself 
whether  he  would  not  be  justified  in  submitting  quietly 
to  Caesar.    In  one  of  his  speeches  he  said: 

I  deem  it  no  proof  of  inconsistency  to  regulate  our  opinions  as 
we  do  a  ship  and  a  ship's  course  on  a  voyage,  according  to  the 
weather  which  might  be  prevailing  in  the  commonwealth.89 

In  one  of  his  letters  to  Atticus  written  on  his  journey 
from  Brundusium  he  says: 

Since,  however,  things  have  come  to  such  a  pass,  I  will  not 
ask,  as  you  write,  quoting  the  words  of  Homer,  "Where  is  the 
ship  of  the  Atridae?"  That  shall  be  my  ship  where  Pompey 
holds  the  helm.  As  to  what  will  happen  when,  as  you  say,  I 
am  called  upon,  "Speak,  Marc  Tully!"  I  will  answer  shortly,  "J 
agree  with  Cnaeus  Pompey."  Privately,  however,  I  will  urge 
him  to  peaceful  counsels.  For  my  opinion  is  that  we  run  the 
greatest  hazard.  You  who  are  in  the  city  know  more  than  I  do. 
However,  I  see  this  plainly,  that  we  have  to  do  with  a  man  ful 
of  audacity,  and  thoroughly  prepared.90 

The  first  question  the  new  consuls  for  the  year  49  B.C. 
presented  to  the  Senate  was  whether  a  letter  should  be 
read,  just  brought  by  Curio  from  Ravenna  to  Rome  from 
Caesar,  who  proposed  to  lay  down  his  military  command 
if  Pompey  would  do  the  same,  adding  that  if  that  condi- 
tion was  not  complied  with  he  would  not  be  wanting  in  his 
duty  to  himself  and  his  country.  The  consul  Lentulus, 
backed  by  Metellus  Scipio,  the  father-in-law  of  Pompey, 
after  advocating  bold  measures,  and  declaring  that  Pom- 
es Pro  Plane,  39.  90  Ad  Att.,  vii,  3. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  225 

pey  would  defend  the  Republic  if  the  Senate  would  follow 
him  —  proposed  that  Caesar  should  be  ordered  to  disband 
his  army  by  a  certain  day,  and,  in  the  event  of  failure,  to 
be  regarded  as  a  traitor  and  rebel. 

The  other  consul,  Marcellus,  advised  that  Caesar  be 
not  defied  until  an  army  could  be  raised  by  a  levy  en 
masse;  and  in  order  to  prevent  the  pending  motion  from 
being  carried,  the  newly  elected  tribunes,  Marc  Antony 
and  Quintus  Cassius,  interposed  their  veto.  But  the  delay 
was  only  for  a  moment.  On  January  6  there  was  another  Theulti- 
violent  debate  resulting  in  an  ultimatum ;  the  consuls,  prae-  ^uary  6. 
tors,  and  tribunes  were  ordered  to  see  that  the  Republic 
suffered  no  harm.91  On  the  next  day  the  tribunes,  Antony 
and  Quintus  Cassius,  fled  from  Rome  to  Caesar,  who,  by 
the  middle  of  the  month,  had  crossed  the  Rubicon.  With 
wonderful  foresight  Cicero  had  anticipated  what  actually 
happened  when  he  wrote: 

Or  if  perchance  a  tribune  of  the  people  blocking  the  Senate  or 
rousing  the  people,  having  formally  been  branded  by  censure, 
either  cut  short  by  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  or  suspended,  or 
deprived  of  his  office,  or  claiming  to  have  been  deprived  of  his 
office,  seek  refuge  with  him.92 

The  rapidity  of  Caesar's  advance  staggered  and  bewil-  Rapidity 
dered  his  foes.  Instead  of  marching  directly  on  the  capital  °dvance. 
he  secured  the  possession  of  the  country  by  seizing  first 
upon  the  heart  of  the  peninsula,  dashing  through  the 
upland  valleys  midway  between  the  two  seas,  and  in  that 
way  arriving  at  Rome  as  the  undisputed  master  of  Italy 
by  the  end  of  March. 

Pompey  having  failed  to  sustain  Domitius  Ahenobarbus  Pompey's 

r^       r    •  1         a  •  •       r+  flight  to 

at  Lornnium,  a  strong  position  in  the  Apennines  in  Lae-   theEast. 
sar's  path,  his  only  hope  was  in  flight  to  the  East,  with  its 

91  Caes.,  B.  C,  i,  5.  92  Ad  Att,  vii,  9.  Cf.  Sihler,  p.  301. 


226 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Regarded  by 
Cicero  as 
disgraceful. 


His  appeal 
to  Pompey. 


treasures,  fleets,  and  millions  of  men  which  might  still 
be  organized  for  victory  in  the  long  run.93  Before  the 
fall  of  Corfinium  Cicero  wrote: 

My  convictions,  personal  and  political,  attach  me  to  Pompey. 
If  I  stay  behind,  I  desert  my  noble  and  admirable  companions, 
and  I  fall  into  the  power  of  a  man  whom  I  know  not  how  far  I 

can  trust This  is  one  side;  but  now  look  at  the  other. 

Pompey  has  shown  neither  conduct  nor  courage,  and  he  has  acted 
throughout  against  my  advice  and  judgment.  I  pass  over  his  old 
errors:  how  he  himself  armed  this  man  against  the  constitution; 
how  he  supported  his  laws  by  violence  in  the  face  of  the  auspices ; 
how  he  gave  him  Further  Gaul,  married  his  daughter,  supported 
Clodius,  helped  me  back  from  exile  indeed,  but  neglected  me 
afterward;  how  he  prolonged  Caesar's  command,  and  backed  him 
up  in  everything;  how,  in  his  third  consulship,  when  he  had 
begun  to  defend  the  constitution,  he  yet  moved  the  tribunes  to 
carry  a  resolution  for  taking  Caesar's  name  in  his  absence,  and 
himself  sanctioned  it  by  a  law  of  his  own ;  how  he  resisted  Marcus 
Marcellus,  who  would  have  ended  Caesar's  government  on  March 
I.  Let  us  forget  all  this:  but  what  was  ever  more  disgraceful 
than  the  flight  from  Rome?94 

By  February  17,  Pompey  had  begun  to  direct  all  his 
forces  to  move  toward  Brundusium;  and,  attended  by  the 
consuls,  a  majority  of  the  Senate,  and  a  long  train  of 
young  patricians,  the  descendants  of  the  Metelli  and 
Scipios,  abandoned  Italy  as  untenable.  In  a  letter  to 
Pompey,  Cicero  said: 

My  advice  was  always  for  peace,  even  on  hard  terms.  I 
wished  you  to  remain  in  Rome.  You  never  hinted  that  you 
thought  of  leaving  Italy.  I  accepted  your  opinion,  not  for  the 
constitution's  sake,  for  I  despaired  of  saving  it.     The  constitution 

93  "A  victory  in  the  East  means  the  personal  supremacy  of  Pompey.  We 
cannot  agree  with  Cicero,  who  represents  his  flight  from  Italy  as  the  result 
of  a  panic.  No;  it  was  a  well-considered  plan,  which,  on  the  whole,  wa9 
the  only  plan  likely  to  secure  for  Pompey  a  position  like  that  which  Caesar 
actually  attained."  —  Tyrrell,  Cicero  in  His  Letters,  vol.  iv,  p.  117. 

»*  Ad  AtU,  viii,  3. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  227 

is  gone,  and  cannot  be  restored  without  a  destructive  war;  but 

I  wished  to  be  with  you,  and  if  I  can  join  you  now  I  will 

I  preferred  an  arrangement,  and  you,  I  thought,  agreed  with  me. 
They  [the  aristocracy]  chose  to  fight,  and  as  their  counsels  have 
been  taken,  I  can  but  do  my  duty  as  a  member  of  the  common- 
wealth, and  as  a  friend  to  you.95 

In  a  letter  to  Atticus  he  said : 

Observe  the  man  into  whose  hands  we  have   fallen.     How   Letters  to 
keen  he  is,  how  alert,  how  well  prepared!     By  Jove,  if  he  does   Att,CU9- 
not  kill  anyone,   and  spares  the  property  of  those  who  are   so 
terrified,  he  will  be  in  high  favor!     I  talk  with  the  tradesmen 
and  farmers.     They  care  for  nothing  but  their  lands  and  houses 
and  money.    They  have  gone  right  round.98 

In  another  letter  he  says: 

My  preparations  are  complete.  I  wait  till  I  can  go  by  the 
upper  sea;  I  cannot  go  by  the  lower  at  this  season.  I  must  start 
soon  lest  I  be  detained.  I  do  not  go  for  Pompey's  sake.  I  have 
long  known  him  to  be  the  worst  of  politicians,  and  I  know  him 
now  for  the  worst  of  generals.  I  go  because  I  am  sneered  at  by 
the  optimates.  Precious  optimates!  What  are  they  about  now? 
Selling  themselves  to  Caesar.  The  towns  receive  Caesar  as  a 
god.97 

Again : 

Pompey  has  sailed.  I  am  pleased  to  find  that  you  approve  my 
remaining.  My  efforts  now  are  to  persuade  Caesar  to  allow  me 
to  be  absent  from  the  Senate  which  is  soon  to  meet.  I  fear  he 
will  refuse.  I  have  been  deceived  in  two  points.  I  expected  an 
arrangement;  and  now  I  perceive  that  Pompey  has  resolved  upon 

a  cruel  and  deadly  war Pompey  is  aiming  at  monarchy 

after  the  type  of  Sulla.  I  know  what  I  say.  Never  did  he  show 
his  hand  more  plainly.  Has  he  not  a  good  cause?  The  very 
best.     But  mark  me,  it  will  be  carried  out  most  foully.     He  means 

95  Ad  Att.,  viii,  11  (d). 

06  Ibid.,  viii,  13.  For  a  clear  and  elaborate  statement,  with  the 
authorities,  of  all  the  motives  that  prompted  Cicero  to  follow  Pompey,  see 
Tyrrell,  Cicero  in  His  Letters,  pp.  xxvii  sq. 

97  Ad  Att.,  viii,  16. 


228 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero's 
hope  of  a 
settlement. 


Met  Caesar 
at  Formiae. 


to  strangle  Rome  and  Italy  with  famine,  and  then  waste  and  burn 
the  country,  and  seize  the  property  of  all  who  have  any.  Caesar 
may  do  as  ill;  but  the  prospect  is  frightful.98  ....  Why  did  not 
I  follow  Pompey  when  things  were  at  their  worst?     On  January 

17  I  could  see  that  he  was  thoroughly  frightened In  no 

respect  was  he  acting  in  a  way  to  make  it  proper  for  me  to  join 
his  flight.  But  now  my  love  for  him  revives;  now  my  regret  for 
him  is  more  than  I  can  bear;  books  and  philosophy  please  me  no 
more.  Like  Plato's  bird,  I  gaze  night  and  day  over  the  sea,  and 
long  to  fly  away." 

Still  believing  that  peace  might  be  accomplished  by  con- 
ference, Cicero  remained  in  Italy  while  Pompey,  about 
the  middle  of  March,  crossed  the  Adriatic  to  Epirus. 
Such  hope  of  a  settlement  was  kept  alive  by  Caesar's 
agents  at  Rome100  and  by  Caesar  himself  who,  on  March 
26,  wrote  that  he  desired  a  conference  with  Cicero  on  his 
way  to  the  capital  which  he  had  not  seen  for  nine  years. 
"I  would  like  to  have  you  await  me,"  he  said,  "near  Rome, 
that  I  might  use  your  counsels  and  resources,  as  I  am 
wont,  in  everything.    Let  me  tell  you  that  no  one  is  more  1 
agreeable  than  your  Dolabella."  101    On  March  27  or  28,  I 
Caesar  and  Cicero  met  at  Formiae,  where  the  great  soldier 
laid  down  the  law  to  the  great  orator  after  the  latter  had 
declared  that  he  would  not  go  to  Rome,  where  the  Senate 
was  soon  to  meet,  because  he  knew  he  would  not  be  per- 
mitted to  express  his  real  opinions.     Caesar  did  not  force 
him.    "The  upshot  was  that  he,  as  though  seeking  a  way 
out,  suggested  that  I  think  the  matter  over.     There  was 
no  saying  nay  to  that.     So  we  parted."     In  refusing  to 
stoop  to  please  Caesar,  Cicero  had  pleased  himself:  "I 


98  Ad  Att.,  ix,  7 
9»  Ibid.,  ix,  10. 
vii,  348A. 

100  Ad  Att.,  ix,  13  (a) 

101  Ibid.,  ix,  16  (a). 


Ka.8a.irep  6pvis  ttoOwv  iroOev  avairTaoOai.  —  Plato,  Epis., 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  229 

suppose  he  does  not  love  me.     But  I  loved  myself,  and,  it 
is  a  long  time  since  that  has  come  to  pass."  102  Still  hoping  His  rapid 
to  win  Cicero,   Caesar,  before   sailing  away  to   subdue   JJJJJjjJJ 
Spain  in  forty  days,  wrote  him  a  personal  letter,  dated 
April  16,  warning  him  not  to  leave  Italy: 

Nobody  will  say  that  you  are  following  the  winning  cause,  if 
you  do,  that  is  true;  but  you  would  condemn  my  action  and  you 
could  not  do  me  a  greater  injury  than  that.103 

Antony,  left  behind  as  a  kind  of  viceroy,  also  appealed   Antony  vice- 

1  •  •  roy  of  Italy. 

to  him,  saying, 

You  and  I  are  at  odds,  but  that  is  due  not  so  much  to  any 
wrong  you  have  done  me- — there  is  none  —  but  to  my  enthu- 
siasm [for  Caesar's  cause].  Think  of  your  son-in-law  and  your 
daughter.     Do  not  go.104 

Tullia  also  appealed  to  her  father  to  wait  for  decisive 
news  from  Spain.105  He  did  not  finally  make  up  his  mind 
until  June,  when  he  went  from  Cumae  to  Formiae  where 
a  vessel  was  ready  for  him.  On  the  seventh,  after  writing  Cicero  went 
a  farewell  letter  to  Terentia,106  advising  her  to  dwell  in  T°n°!Iipey 
those  villas  farthest  removed  from  men  in  arms,  he  em- 
barked with  his  brother,  son,  and  nephew,  and  sailed  to 
the  opposite  coast  to  join  Pompey.  Nearly  four  years 
later  he  wrote: 

I  do  not  think  that  I  once  abandoned  country  and  children, 
being  influenced  by  the  prizes  of  victory,  but  as  it  seemed  to  me 

102  Ad  A tt.,  \x,  18. 
v*Ibid.t  x,  8   (b). 

104  Ibid.,  x,  8  (a).  In  that  letter  Antony  says:  "For  I  want  to  convince 
you  that  no  one  is  dearer  to  me  than  you  are,  except  my  Caesar,  and  that 
my  conviction  at  the  same  time  is  that  Caesar  gives  M.  Cicero  a  very  high 
place  among  his  friends." 

105  Ibid.,  x,  8. 

106  Ad  Fam.,  xiv,  7.    At  the  close  he  says:  "You  can  with  advantage  use 
;     the  home  at  Arpinum  with  your  town  establishment,  if  the  price  of  food 

goes  up." 


230 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


A  mission  of 
despair. 


Pompey's 
coldness. 


Pharsalia, 
August  9, 
48  B.C. 


I  followed  a  certain  duty  satisfactory  to  my  sense  of  right  and 
of  devotion,  and  due  the  state  and  my  public  position.107 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Cicero  went  on  a  mission 
of  despair  from  a  sense  of  duty;  and  it  was  certainly  very 
noble  of  Cato,  upon  his  arrival  at  the  camp,  to  upbraid 
him  for  his  folly  in  coming  to  them,  as  their  cause  was 
desperate,  and  as  it  was  likely  that  the  orator  could  have 
been  of  more  service  to  his  friends  and  country  if  he  had 
remained  at  home.108  Certainly  he  was  treated  neither 
with  confidence  nor  consideration  by  Pompey,  who,  after 
he  had  indulged  in  sarcastic  comments  as  to  the  unpre- 
paredness  of  his  army,  as  Macrobius  tells  us,  said,  "I  wish 
Cicero  would  go  over  to  the  enemy  that  he  may  learn  to 
fear  us."  And  yet  he  seems  to  have  loaned  Pompey  at 
this  time  a  considerable  sum  of  money  to  help  on  the 
cause. 

The  letter  to  Atticus  of  June  13  from  the  camp  at 
Dyrrachium  relates  mainly  to  financial  matters.109  There 
it  was  that  Caesar  first  encountered  Pompey,  a  year  after 
the  departure  of  the  latter  from  Italy;  and  there  it  was 
that  Caesar  suffered  a  most  unexpected  defeat  which 
forced  him  to  retire  in  a  kind  of  flight  toward  Mace- 
donia. That  success,  Cicero  tells  us,  so  turned  Pompey's 
head — 

....  that  from  this  moment  that  great  man  ceased  to  be  a 
general;  opposed  a  raw,  new-raised  army  to  the  most  robust  and 
veteran  legions ;  was  shamefully  beaten,  with  the  loss  of  his  camp, 
and  forced  to  fly  away  alone.110 

And  yet  the  fact  is  that  at  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  fought 
August  9,  48  B.C.,  old  style,  by  the  Roman  aristocracy  in 

107  Ad  Tarn.,  vi,  i.  Cf.  Sihler,  p.  320. 

i°8  Plut.,  Cic,  38. 

*«•  Ad  Att.j  ii,  3. 

110  Ad  Tarn.,  vii,  3.  This  was  the  letter  written  to  Marius  in  July,  46  B.C. 


CICERO  AND  POMPEY  231 

defense  of  their  own  supremacy,  Pompey  had  forty-seven 
thousand  infantry,  not  including  his  allies,  and  seven  thou- 
sand cavalry,  while  Caesar  had  only  twenty-two  thousand 
infantry  and  a  thousand  cavalry.  Neither  Cicero  nor 
Cato  were  present;  both  had  remained  in  the  camp  at 
Dyrrachium  where  the  latter  commanded  with  fifteen 
cohorts.  When  the  news  of  the  defeat  arrived  Cato 
offered  the  command  to  the  ex-consul  on  account  of  his 
superior  dignity,111  and  when  he  declined  it,  according  to 
Plutarch,  young  Pompey  drew  his  sword  and  would  have 
killed  him  but  for  Cato's  interference.  After  twenty- 
four  thousand  Pompeians  had  surrendered,  Cicero,  re-  Cicero's  re- 
garding Caesar's  victory  as  absolutely  conclusive,  returned  .  October  * 
to  Brundusium  about  the  end  of  October,  after  a  dreary 
absence  of  nearly  eighteen  months.  In  a  letter  to 
Plancius  he  said : 

Victory  on  one  side  meant  massacre,  on  the  other  slavery.     It    Letters  to 
consoles  me  to  remember  that  I  foresaw  these  things,  and  as  much    *lanclus> 
feared  the  success  of  our  cause  as  the  defeat  of  it.     I  attached    Marius. 
myself  to  Pompey's  party  more  in  hope  of  peace  than  from  a  desire 
of  war;  but  I  saw,  if  we  had  the  better,  how  cruel  would  be  the 
triumph  of  an  exasperated,  avaricious,  and  insolent  set  of  men;  if 
we  were  defeated,  how  many  of  our  wealthiest  and  noblest  citizens 
must  fall.     Yet  when  I  argued  this  and  offered  my  advice  I  was 
taunted  for  being  a  coward.112 

In  a  letter  to  Varro  he  said: 

You  and  I  both  grieved  to  see  how  the  state  would  suffer  from 
the  loss  of  either  army  and  its  generals;  we  knew  that  victory  in 
a  civil  war  was  itself  a  most  miserable  disaster.  I  dreaded  the 
success  of  those  to  whom  I  had  attached  myself.113 

In  a  letter  to  Marcus  Marius  he  said: 

I  despaired  of  success  and  recommended  peace.    When  Pompey 
would  not  hear  of  it,  I  advised  him  to  protract  the  war.     Thus 
111  Plut,  Cat.  Min.,  55.  112  Ad  Tarn.,  iv,  14.  113  Ibid.,  ix,  6. 


232  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

for  the  time  he  approved,  and  he  might  have  continued  firm  but 
for  the  confidence  he  gathered  from  the  battle  of  Dyrrachium. 
From  that  day  the  great  man  ceased  to  be  a  general.  With  a 
raw  and  inexperienced  army  he  engaged  legions  in  perfect  disci- 
pline. On  the  defeat  he  basely  deserted  his  camp  and  fled  by  him- 
self.    For  me  this  was  the  end I  retired  from  a  war  in 

which  the  only  alternatives  before  me  were  either  to  be  killed  in 
action  or  to  be  taken  prisoner,  or  fly  to  Juba  in  Africa,  or  hide 
in  exile,  or  destroy  myself.114 

114  Ad  Fain.,  vii,  3. 


Julius  Caesar.    British  Museum. 


CHAPTER  IX 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR 


Cicero  was  wide  of  the  mark  when  he  assumed  that 
the  civil  war  had  ended  with  the  triumph  of  Caesar  at  Caesar  after 
Pharsalia.  Nearly  three  years  of  bitter  strife  were  to  arsa  ia' 
pass  by  before  the  final  overthrow  of  the  Pompeians 
in  March,  45  B.C.,  at  Munda,  near  Cordova,  in  one  of 
the  most  desperate  battles  in  which  Caesar  was  ever 
engaged. 

Instead  of  being  able  to  return  to  Italy,  the  victor  of 
Pharsalia  was  compelled  to  follow  along  the  track  of 
Pompey  to  Alexandria,  whence,   after  an  embarrassing 
delay  of  nine  months  devoted  to  the  settlement  of  the 
title  to  the  throne  of  Egypt,  he  sailed  for  Syria,  where 
he  saw  and  conquered  Pharnaces,  the  son  of  the  great 
Mithridates,  ending  the  war  in  five  days.1     Not  until  he 
had  placed  the  affairs  of  the  East  upon  a  firm  foundation   Returned 
was  he  able  in  August,  47  B.C.,  to  return  to  Rome  in   £5^,,  Rome 
time  to  deal  with  the  threatened  revolt  of  the  legions  in  47  b.c. 
in  Campania,2  embarking  before  the  end  of  that  year 
for   Africa,    where    Scipio,    Cato,    Afranius,    Labienus, 
and   the    other    Pompeian    generals,    assisted   by    King 
Juba,    held    possession    of   that   province    with    a    vast 
army. 

A  division  of  Scipio's  troops  were  in  the  peninsula  of 
Thapsus,  between  Carthage  and  Utica.    There  it  was  that 

1  In  the  famous  message  to  the  Senate  he  announced  his  victory  in  the 
laconic  phrase,  Veni,  vidi,  vici. 
2Dio.,  xlii,  52-55. 

233 


234 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Battle  of 
Thapsus, 
April,  46  B.C. 


Battle  of 
Munda, 
March  17, 
45  B.C. 


Foundations 
of  the  new 
imperial 
system. 


Caesar  won  the  battle  of  Thapsus  in  April,  46  B.C. ;  there 
it  was  that  Cato  of  Utica,  ultimus  Romanorum,  fell  upon 
his  sword  and  died.3  After  his  return  to  Rome  in  July, 
as  a  world-conqueror,  Caesar,  on  four  separate  days, 
celebrated  triumphs  over  Gaul,  Egypt,  Pontus,  and  Africa. 
But  the  end  was  not  yet.  In  midwinter  the  great  one, 
now  fifty-five  and  in  failing  health,  was  compelled  to 
depart  for  Spain,  accompanied  by  his  adopted  son  Octa- 
vius,  and  by  Decimus  Brutus,  in  order  to  put  down  a  gen- 
eral revolt  throughout  that  province  headed  by  Labienus 
and  the  sons  of  Pompey. 

After  the  slaughter  at  Munda  —  including  three  thou- 
sand Roman  knights,  "the  last  remains  of  the  haughty 
youths  who  had  threatened  Caesar  with  their  swords  in 
the  Senate-house,  and  had  hacked  Clodius'  mob  in  the 
Forum"4  —  he  was  so  delayed  by  the  task  of  reconstruct- 
ing the  affairs  of  the  peninsula  that  he  did  not  return 
until  September,  45  B.C.,  to  resume  the  suspended  work 
of  practical  reform.5  During  the  five  years  and  more 
that  intervened  between  the  crossing  of  the  Rubicon,  about 
the  middle  of  January,  49  B.C.,  and  his  assassination  on 
the  ides  of  March,  44  B.C.,  Caesar  was  able  to  pass 
barely  fifteen  months  at  home.  His  real  work  was  done 
abroad.  It  was  through  his  world-conquests  that  he 
built  up  that  pronounced  and  permanent  form  of  dictato- 
rial power  that  enabled  him  to  lay  deep  the  foundations 
of  the  new  imperial  system  into  which  the  ancient  repub- 

3  About  April  15.  —  O.  E.  Schmidt,  Der  Briefivechsel,  p.  420. 

4  Froude,  Caes.,  p.  394. 

5  The  battle  of  Munda  seemed  to  close  the  era  of  the  civil  war.  There 
was  no  longer  either  pretext  or  reason,  so  the  upper  class  held,  for  the 
prolongation  of  the  dictatorship.  The  decisive  moment,  then,  was  approach- 
ing; at  last  the  world  would  know  whether  Caesar  cared  more  for  liberty 
or  for  the  temptations  of  tyranny  and  revolution.  —  Ferrero,  Greatness  and 
Decline  of  Rome,  vol.  ii,  p.  289. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  235 

lican  constitution  of  Rome,  without  any  sudden  or  vio- 
lent outward  changes,  was  silently  yet  swiftly  trans- 
formed. 

Nothing  in  the  history  of  institutions  is  more  subtle   A  subtle 
than  the  process   through  which  the   substance   of  the   ,i  ttanif or„ 
divided  powers  vested  by  the  Roman  constitution  in  the   mation. 
assembly  of  the  people,  the  Senate,  and  the  magistrates 
was  centralized  in  the  hands  of  a  single  autocratic  ruler, 
without  the  destruction  of  the   outward   forms  of  the 
organs   from   which   it  was  drawn.      The   magic   wand  Magic  wand 
that  wrought  the   transformation  was  the   dictatorship,   °orsyp#lc  a" 
which    necessarily    implied    a    temporary   suspension    of 
all   constitutional   government   in   order    that   the    state 
might,   on   a  particular  occasion,   suffer  no   harm.      As 
dictator,    Sulla    had    made    a    tentative    demonstration 
of    the    process    through  which   Caesar    arrived    at   a 
finality. 

Caesar  was  first  proclaimed  dictator  in  49  B.C.,  after 
his  brilliant  successes  in  Spain;  on  the  news  of  Pompey's 
death  he  was,  in  48  B.C.,  declared  dictator  a  second  time 
in  his  absence,  with  Antony  as  his  master  of  horse,  abso- 
lute governor  in  Italy;  after  the  battle  of  Thapsus,  he 
was,  in  46  B.C.,  made  dictator  for  ten  years;  after  the 
battle  of  Munda,  in  44  B.C.,  he  was  made  dictator  for 
life.     The  "perpetual  dictatorship"  thus  granted  excited   "Perpetual 
the  bitter  animosity  of  the  republicans,  because  it  implied   and  the^title 
a  perpetual  suspension  of  constitutional  government;  and   imperator. 
the  title  imperator  he  adopted  was  intended  to  describe 
the  unlimited  nature  of  the  imperium  he  claimed,  sep- 
arate and  apart  from  the  limited  authority  possessed  by 
the  republican  magistrates.6     The  tribunician  power  was 

6  Suet.,  40;  Dion.,  xliii,  44.   See  also,  as  to  the  use  of  the  title  imperator 
in  this  sense,  Mommsen,  vol.  iii,  p.  466,  and  note. 


236 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


imperium. 


also  conferred  upon  him  which,  apart  from  other  advan- 
tages, rendered  his  person  inviolable.7 

From  the  time  he  seized  the  money  in  the  treasury  on 
his  first  entry  into  Rome8  until  the  end,  he  assumed,  as 
Power  of  the  imperator,  the  entire  direction  of  Rome's  foreign  affairs, 
the  entire  control  of  the  army,  and  of  the  provinces 
which  were  governed  by  his  "legates"  9  and  not  by  inde- 
pendent magistrates.  The  old  republican  constitution 
had  been  made  for  the  government  of  a  single  city;  and 
when  the  attempt  was  made  to  apply  it  to  the  govern- 
ment of  a  growing  empire,  it  simply  broke  down  because 
its  clumsy  machinery  was  inadequate  to  the  task.  The 
clear,  dark  eyes  of  the  world-conqueror  seeing  that  fact 
simply  made  a  severance,  taking  upon  himself  as  im- 
perator  the  direction  of  all  imperial  affairs,  and  leaving 
to  the  old  constitution,  with  such  serious  modifications  as 
he  saw  fit  to  make  in  it,  the  local  government  of  Rome 
as  a  city-state. 

To  use  a  favorite  phrase,  Caesar  municipalized  the 
old  republican  constitution,  subordinating  it  at  the  same 
time  to  the  imperator  who  directed  the  legions  and  the 
provinces.  While  still  pretending  to  hold  his  authority 
by  the  will  of  the  people,  he  permitted  the  ancient  fabric, 
consisting  of  popular  assemblies,  Senate,  and  elected  mag- 
istrates, consuls,  praetors,  aediles,  quaestors,  and  tribunes, 
to  go  on  discharging  within  a  limited  sphere  their  usual 
functions  subject  always  and  in  all  things  to  his  paramount 
authority.     Under  such  a  system  Rome  was  for  months 

7  The  tribunicia  potestas  was  granted  early  in  his  period  of  rule  (48  B.C.) 
and  given  for  life;  it  must  have  been  regarded  even  now  as  the  ideal  com- 
plement of  a  lasting  imperium,  valuable  for  the  inviolability  it  conferred 
and  for  the  civil  and  popular  coloring  which  it  gave  its  holder. — -Greenidge, 
Roman  Public  Life,  p.  337. 

8Plut.,  Caes.,  35. 

9  Dion.,  xliii,  47. 


Old 

republican 
constitution 
munici- 
palized. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  237 

at  a  time  left  without  regular  magistrates,  and  governed 
like  a  dependent  city  by  the  imperator\  prefects.10  Can- 
didates presented  themselves  to  the  people  at  elections 
backed  by  a  dictatorial  recommendation  equivalent  to  a 
command.11 

The  dwindling  process  had  been  going  on  since  the 
year  81  B.C.  From  that  time  the  consuls  and  praetors 
of  each  year  had  been  stationed  at  Rome  and  employed 
in  purely  municipal  business;  while,  since  the  enfranchise- 
ment incident  to  the  Italian  war,  the  comitia,  although  Comitia 
still  recognized  in  theory  as  the  ultimate  source  of  all   asa  °, 

°  *  assembly. 

power,  had  become  little  more  than  assemblies  of  the 
local  Roman  populace.  In  that  way,  as  the  old  magis- 
tracies became  merely  municipal  offices,  the  assembly  of 
the  sovereign  people  lost  its  law-making  power,  retaining 
no  right  to  represent  the  true  Roman  people  except  when 
called  upon  to  make  a  formal  confirmation  of  the 
authority  of  the  ruler  of  the  Empire  which  was  his 
already. 

Nothing  is  more  notable  than  the  reorganization  of  the  Reorganiza- 
Senate,  from  which  the  imperator  expelled  all  who  had  g°na°e 
been  guilty  of  corruption  or  extortion,  filling  their  places 
with  officers  of  distinguished  merit,  with  foreigners,  with 
sons  of  freedmen,  with  meritorious  citizens  from  all  parts 
of  the  Empire,  including  even  "semi-barbarous  Gauls" — 
thus  raising  the  total  number  of  senators  to  900.  Instead 
of  the  censorship,  by  which  the  list  of  the  Senate  could 
be  revised,  Caesar  was  given  for  three  years,  in  4  c  B.C.,    _ 

-  .  ,  .    Praefectura 

the  praefectura  morum,12  which  he  used  as  a  means  of    morum. 

10  Zumpt,  Stud.  Rom.,  p.  241 ;  Suet.,  76. 

11  Suet.,  41 :  "Caesar  dictator  ....  commendo  vobis  ilium  et  ilium,  ut 
vestro  suffragio  suam  dignitatem  teneant."  Cf.  the  admirable  article  on 
"Rome,"  ancient  history,  by  H.  F.  Pelham,  M.A.  (Enc.  Brit.,  9th  ed.),  to 
which  I  am  greatly  indebted. 

12  Dion.,  xliii,  14;  see  Mommsen,  C.I.L.,  vol.  i,  p.  41. 


238 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Imperial 
legislation 
superseded 
senatorial. 


restraining  the  extravagance  and  luxury  induced  by  the 
sudden  influx  of  plundered  wealth. 

When  the  Roman  popular  assemblies  died  out  and 
became  obsolete,  without  being  ever  formally  abolished, 
the  power  of  direct  legislation  passed  to  the  Senate;  and 
so  at  the  very  moment  when  the  Senate  was  recognized 
as  an  organ  of  legislation,  it  became  the  mere  tool  of 
the  emperor  for  that  purpose.  In  the  history  of  Roman 
statute  law  are  reflected  the  two  stages  of  development 
through  which  the  imperial  power  passed.  During  the 
first,  while  the  Roman  state  remained  a  republican  com- 
monwealth in  theory,  the  power  of  the  emperor  was 
simply  the  power  of  the  "first  citizen" ;  during  the  second, 
i.  e.,  from  the  time  of  Diocletian  to  Constantine,  it  was 
the  power  of  a  monarch.  After  imperial  legislation  had 
thus  superseded  senatorial  legislation,  after  an  imperial 
statute  became  an  oratio  directly  promulgated  to  the 
nation  as  a  whole,  it  became  necessary,  of  course,  to  dis- 
tinguish the  emperor's  merely  interpretative  or  judicial 
from  his  legislative  functions.13  In  the  words  of  a  master: 

Caesar  was  the  first  sole  ruler  of  Rome;  and  we  might  be 
inclined  to  imagine  that  the  powers  which  he  enjoyed  were  con- 
sciously assumed  merely  as  those  of  a  provisional  government, 
were  there  not  signs  that  towards  the  close  of  his  life  he  was 

satisfied  with  the  solution  which  he  had  adopted But  in 

the  last  year  of  his  life,  44  B.C.,  he  entered  on  a  perpetual  dictator- 
ship, a  revival  of  the  Roman  monarchy  both  in  reality  and  in  name. 

It  is  true  that  the  title  rex  was  not  assumed,  out  of  deference 
to  the  feelings  of  the  masses,  who  saw  in  it  merely  a  synonym  of 
oriental  despotism;  and  for  the  same  reason  the  diadem  was  de- 
clined. But  every  educated  Roman  knew  that  the  Roman  mon- 
archy had  been  nothing  else  than  the  unlimited  imperium,  and 
many  may  have  believed  that  dictator  or  "master  of  the  people" 


13  See  the  author's  Science  of  Jurisprudence,  pp.  114-18. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR 


239 


was  the  most  significant  of  the  titles  of  the  king.  It  was  there- 
fore a  regnum  under  which  Rome  was  living,  and  there  was  no 
concealment  of  its  military  character,  for  the  title  imperator  was 
now  borne  by  the  regent  within  the  walls.14 

Thus  armed  with  the  substance  of  monarchical  power,   Monarchical 
under  republican  forms,  the  regent,  as  we  may  call  Caesar,    ^epubHcan 
undertook  to  demonstrate  the  practical  value  of  the  new   forms, 
order  by  relieving  the  towns  of  the  concentration  of  a 
pauper  population,  and  the  country  districts  of  a  growing 
desolation,  by  the  colonization  of  Corinth  and  Carthage, 
and  by   allotments   of  land  on   a   large   scale   in   Italy, 
whereby  decaying  rural  communities  were  reinforced  by 
fresh  groups  of  settlers.15 

In  the  same  spirit  he  reformed  the  Roman  calendar   Calendar 
with  the  aid  of  Sosigenes,16  an  Alexandrian  astronomer, 
who,  leaving  the  moon  altogether,  took  the  sun  as  the 
basis  of  the  new  system.     And  finally,  he  purified  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  criminal  law  by  the  abolition  of  the    Changes 
popular  element  among  the  judices.     While  the  regent,   critmfnauaw 
or  "the  tyrant,"  if  you  please,  was  thus  doing  what,  he 
could  to  reconstruct  Rome  as  a  well-ordered  and  pro- 
gressive commonwealth,  he  was  planning  other  schemes 
of  administrative  reform  that  contemplated  the  turning 
of  the  course  of  the  Tiber,  the  draining  of  the  Fucine 
Lake  and  the  Pontine  Marshes,  the  building  of  a  new 
road  across  the  Apennines,  the  extension  of  the  capital 
t  and  the  widening  of  its  periphery.17 

14  Greenidge,  Roman  Public  Life,  pp.  336-37. 

15  As  to  the  temporary  stimulus  given  to  Italian  industry  by  the  reimpo- 
;    sition  on  foreign  goods  of  harbor  dues,  see  Suet.,  42,  43. 

j         ie  It  is  not  unlikely  that  he  had  made  acquaintance  with  Sosigenes  in 
',    Egypt,  and  had  discussed  the  problem  with  him  in  the  hours  during  which 
he  is  supposed  to  have  amused  himself  in  the  arms  of  Cleopatra.  —  Froude, 
!   Caes.,  p.  386. 

17Plut.  Caes.,  58;  Suet.,  44;  Dio.,  xliii,  51. 


240 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Transforma- 
tion of  the 
Roman  re- 
public into 
a  hereditary 
monarchy. 


Cicero's  illu- 
sion as  to 
the  dead 
Republic. 


Beginning 
of  coldness 
to  Terentia. 


Walter  Bagehot,  in  describing  the  subtle  process 
through  which  the  ancient  English  monarchy  was  silently 
transformed  into  a  hereditary  republic,  has  said: 

This  ancient  and  ever-altering  constitution  is  like  an  old  man 
who  still  wears  with  attached  fondness  clothes  in  the  fashion  of 
his  youth ;  what  you  see  of  him  is  still  the  same ;  what  you  do  not 
see  is  wholly  altered.18 

Cicero  might  have  described  in  the  same  words  the 
subtle  process  through  which  the  ancient  Roman  Republic 
was  silently  transformed  under  his  very  eyes  into  a 
hereditary  monarchy.  To  the  ancient  republican  consti- 
tution the  orator  was  so  devotedly  attached,  through 
prejudice  and  principle,  that  he  sacrificed  his  life  in  a 
vain  yet  patriotic  effort  to  revive  it,  after  it  had  perished 
through  its  own  infirmities.  He  passed  out  of  the  world 
under  the  illusion  that  the  republican  constitution  was 
only  in  a  swoon  from  the  blow  Caesar  had  inflicted  upon 
it  —  he  could  not  understand  that  it  was  actually  dead 
as  the  result  of  a  slow  disease  in  its  vitals  which  had 
deprived  it  of  citizens. 

Only  when  we  hold  Cicero's  illusion,  amounting  to  an 
obsession,  clearly  in  view,  is  it  possible  to  understand 
his  relations  to  Caesar  and  to  political  events  during  the 
four  fateful  years  that  intervened  between  Pharsalia  and 
the  ides  of  March  —  a  period  during  which  Cicero's  one 
thought,  one  hope,  was  the  resuscitation  of  the  dead 
Republic. 

After  his  arrival  at  Brundusium  early  in  November, 
48  B.C.,  hoping  to  meet  Caesar  then  at  Alexandria,  he 
seems  to  have  declined  to  permit  Terentia  to  come  to 
him:  "I  don't  see  what  good  you  can  do  me  if  you  do 
come.      Good-bye." 19     A  coldness  had  begun  between 

18  Eng.  Const.,  p.  34.  19  Ad  Fam.,  xiv,  12. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  241 

them  immediately  after  his  return  from  exile,  to  which 
he  darkly  alludes  in  two  letters  to  Atticus,  emphasized 
by  the  fact  that  it  was  Tullia,  not  Terentia,  who  came 
to  meet  him  at  Brundusium  on  that  occasion.20  But  that 
coldness  was  so  far  removed  that  he  kept  up  a  corre- 
spondence with  Terentia  while  in  Cilicia,  51—50  B.C.; 
and  despite  his  disapproval  of  the  marriage  she  ar- 
ranged between  Tullia  and  Dolabella,  he  addressed  her 
warmly  when  about  to  return,  and  was  met  by  her  on 
landing.21 

The   next  symptom   of  estrangement  appears  in   the 
short,  cold,  and  conventional  notes  from  Pompey's  camp. 
If  Plutarch  is  to  be  believed,  Cicero  was  "neglected  by   Neglected  by 
her   during   the   war    [the   Dyrrachium-Pharsalus   cam-   perrj2m. 
paign]  when  he  was  left  in  dire  want."22     At  any  rate   Pharsalus 
she  did  not  go  to  him  during  his  long  stay  at  Brundusium,    '  irapaign- 
whither  he  had  gone  by  reason  of  a  letter  written  by 
Dolabella  at  the  command  of  Caesar,  who  had  told  him 
to  write  to  his  father-in-law  to  return  to  Italy  immedi- 
ately.    Under  such  conditions,  Balbus  and  Oppius,  the 
regent's   all-powerful   representatives,    undertook   to   in- 
terest themselves  in  the  orator's  behalf.     That  interven- 
tion was  specially  necessary  by  reason  of  the  fact  that 
Quintus,  now  a  pronounced  Caesarean,  had  sent  his  son 
in  advance  to  the   regent,   not  only  to   secure  his   own 
pardon,  but  to  present  an  accusation  against  the  brother 
from  whose  devotion  and  prestige  he  had  derived  what- 
ever importance  he  had  enjoyed.     Therefore,  when  on   Ingratitude 
January  3  he  wrote  to  Atticus,  he  said :  "I  am  writing  this   °  Qulntus- 
to  you  on  my  birthday,  on  which  day  would  that  I  had 

20  It  was  Tullia's  birthday.  —  Ad  Att.,  iv,  i. 

21  At  Athens  he  received  a  letter  from  her  only  twenty-one  days  old.  — r 
Ad  Fam.,  xiv,  5. 

22  Cf.  Sihler.p.  356. 


242 


Meeting 
of  Cicero 
and  Caesar, 
September, 
47  B.C. 


Letter  to 
Varro. 


Terentia  di- 
vorced early 
in  46  B.C. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

never  been  born  of  the  same  mother.     Tears  prevent 
me  writing  more."  23 

Not  until  September  did  the  clouds  begin  to  lift,  when 
Caesar,  upon  his  return,  met  Cicero  between  Taurentum 
and  Brundusium,  embracing  him,  and  giving  him  freedom 
to  live  anywhere  in  Italy  he  chose.  We  have  no  account 
of  the  interview  from  the  orator's  own  pen;  we  only 
know  from  Plutarch  that  "Caesar,  as  soon  as  he  saw 
him  coming  a  good  way  before  the  rest  of  the  company, 
came  down  to  meet  him,  saluted  him,  and  leading  the 
way,  conversed  with  him  alone  for  some  furlongs."  Soon 
he  was  at  his  beloved  Tusculan  villa,  in  the  Alban  hills, 
and  there  he  remained  until  December,  when  he  returned 
to  Rome  within  whose  walls  he  had  not  been  since  his 
departure  to  assume  the  proconsular  government  of 
Cilicia  in  5  1  B.C.  From  his  old  quarters  in  town  he  wrote 
to  Varro,  the  "most  learned  of  the  Romans,"  and  the 
author,  it  is  said,  of  490  books  (two  only  of  which 
survive  even  in  part)  : 

Permit  me  to  tell  you  that,  since  my  arrival  in  the  city,  I  have 
effected  a  reconciliation  with  my  old  friends,  I  mean  my  books; 
though  the  truth  is  that  I  had  not  abandoned  their  society  because 
I  had  fallen  out  with  them,  but  because  I  was  half-ashamed  to 
look  them  in  the  face.  For  I  thought,  when  I  plunged  into  the 
maelstrom  of  civil  strife,  with  allies  whom  I  had  the  worst  pos- 
sible reason  for  trusting,  that  I  had  not  shown  proper  respect  for 
their  precepts.  They  pardon  me;  they  recall  me  to  the  old  inti- 
macy, and  you,  they  say,  have  been  wiser  than  I  for  never  having 
left  it.2* 

It  was  at  the  end  of  this  year  or  early  in  the  next,  46 
B.C.,  that  Cicero,  now  a  gray-headed  man  of  sixty-one, 
divorced  the  wife  to  whom  he  had  been  married  for 


™AdAtt.,  xi,  9. 


ZiAdFam.,  ix,  1. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  243 

some  thirty  years.25  The  lame  excuse  generally  given 
for  that  step  rests  upon  the  accusation  of  mismanagement 
of  his  financial  affairs  by  Terentia  during  his  absence, 
which  seems  to  have  been  caused  largely  by  the  careless- 
ness or  dishonesty  of  her  steward,  Philotimus.26  In  a 
letter  to  Cnaeus  Plancius,  the  orator  thus  states  his  own 
case: 

I  should  not  have  taken  any  new  step  at  a  time  of  such  general  Cicero's  plea, 
disaster  had  I  not  on  my  return  found  my  private  affairs  in  as 
sorry  a  position  as  the  public.  The  fact  is,  that  when  I  saw  that, 
owing  to  the  criminal  conduct  of  those  to  whom  my  life  and  for- 
tunes ought,  in  return  for  my  never-to-be-forgotten  services,  to 
have  been  their  dearest  object,  there  was  nothing  safe  within  the 
walls  of  my  house,  nothing  that  was  not  the  subject  of  some 
intrigue,  I  made  up  my  mind  that  I  must  arm  myself  by  the  faith- 
ful support  of  new  marriage  connections  against  the  perfidy  of 
the  old." 

Certain  it  is  that  he  undertook  to  carry  out  that  policy 
very  promptly  by  placing  himself  in  the  hands  of  match-  in  the  hands 
makers,   whose   first  tender   was   very  unattractive,    we 
know,  because  in  a  letter  to  Atticus  he  said: 


of  the  match- 
makers. 


As  to  the  daughter  of  Pompeius  Magnus,  I  wrote  you  back 
word  that  I  was  not  thinking  about  her  at  the  present  moment. 
That  other  lady  whom  you  mention  I  think  you  know  —  the 
ugliest  thing  I  ever  saw  —  nihil  vidi  foedius.28 

While  in  this  receptive  condition,  the  orator  was  the  A  gay  dinner 

guest  of  the  great  wit  Volumnius  at  a  feast  graced  by  .     an°dum" 

the  famous  beauty  and  actress  Cytheris,  who  then  held  Cytheris. 
Antony  and  Gallus  among  her  captives.     In  a  letter  to  a 

25  Cf.  O.  E.  Schmidt,  Der  Brief.,  p.  420. 

26  Ad  Alt.,  vi,  4.  Seneca  tells  us  there  was  at  least  one  divorce  a  day 
at  Rome — nulla  sine  divortio  Acta  sunt. 

27  Ad  Fam.,  iv,  14. 
2*AdAtt.,  xii,  11. 


244 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Marries  his 
rich  ward 
Publilia. 

Importunate 
creditors. 


Cicero's 
Cato. 


Caesar's 
Anticato. 


friend  written  from  the  dinner  table,  no  unusual  thing 
with  busy  men,29  he  said: 

I  have  just  lain  down  at  dinner  at  three  o'clock,  when  I  scribble 
a  copy  of  this  to  you  in  my  pocket  book.30  ....  Now  listen  to 

the   rest.     Below   Eutrapelus    (Volumnius)    lay   Cytheris 

To  tell  you  the  truth,  I  had  no  suspicion  that  she  would  be  there. 
....  As  for  myself  the  fact  is  that  that  sort  of  thing  never  had 
any  attraction  for  me  when  I  was  a  young  man,  much  less  now  I 
am  an  old  one.  I  like  a  dinner  party.  I  talk  freely  there,  what- 
ever comes  upon  the  tapis,  as  the  phrase  is,  and  convert  sighs  into 

loud  bursts  of  laughter Every  day  something  is  read  or 

written.  Then,  not  to  be  quite  churlish  to  my  friends,  I  dine  with 
them,  not  only  without  exceeding  the  law  [Caesar's  sumptuary 
law],  but  even  within  it,  and  that  by  a  good  deal,  so  you  have  no 
reason  to  be  terrified  at  the  thought  of  my  arrival.  You  will 
receive  a  guest  of  moderate  appetite,  but  of  infinite  jest.31 

Atticus,  knowing  that  there  is  no  fool  like  an  old  one, 
advised  his  friend  to  cut  short  his  matrimonial  quest  by 
marrying  Publilia  —  his  rich  ward,  almost  a  girl,  with  an 
ambitious  widowed  mother  —  largely  no  doubt  as  a  means 
of  satisfying  his  importunate  creditors.  And  here  let  it 
be  remembered  that  the  orator's  professional  business 
on  the  Forum  had  ceased  since  the  spring  of  51  B.C., 
when  he  went  as  proconsul  to  Cilicia;  and  that  his  accu- 
mulations from  that  quarter  had  been  sunk  in  Pompey's 
disasters. 

It  is  a  comfort  to  be  able  to  turn  away  from  Cicero's 
apparently  heartless  divorce  from  Terentia,  and  from  his 
manifestly  mercenary  marriage  with  Publilia,  to  the  con- 
templation of  his  panegyric  on  Cato,  which  had  the  effect 
of  drawing  from  Caesar  himself  a  counterblast,  which 
he  entitled  Anticato,  not  published,  however,  until  after 

29  It  was  Caesar's  constant  habit.  —  Plut.,  Caes.,  63. 

30  For  his  amanuensis  to  copy,  no  doubt. 
3i  Ad  Fam.,  ix,  26, 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  245 

his  triumph  at  Munda.      Cicero  clearly  described  the 
magnitude  of  his  task  when  he  wrote: 

But  that  about  Cato  is  a  problem  requiring  an  Archimedes. 
I  cannot  succeed  in  writing  what  your  guests  [Caesarians  like 
Hirtius,  Balbus,  and  Oppius]  can  possibly  read,  I  don't  say  with 
pleasure,  but  even  without  irritation.  Nay,  even  if  I  keep  clear 
of  his  senatorial  speeches,  and  of  every  wish  and  purpose  which 
he  entertained  in  politics,  and  chose  in  merely  general  terms  to 
eulogize  his  firmness  and  consistency,  even  this  in  itself  would  be 
no  pleasant  hearing  for  your  friends.  But  that  great  man  can- 
not be  praised  as  he  really  deserves  unless  the  following  topics 
are  dilated  upon:  his  having  seen  that  the  present  state  of  things 
was  to  occur,  his  having  exerted  himself  to  prevent  them,  and 
his  having  quitted  life  to  avoid  what  has  actually  happened.32 

Great  as  the  difficulties  were,  he  who  was  destined  to 
perish  defending  the  ancient  constitution  as  Cato  perished, 
built  a  deathless  monument  to  his  memory. 

If  there  is  anywhere  in  ancient  letters  a  truer  outline  of  Cato's   Sihler's  strik- 
political  life,   I  do  not  know  where  to  find   it.     There  lie  the   lngtribute- 
simple  words,  like  huge  units  of  masonry,  without  binding  mortar, 
without  sculptured  ornaments,  large,  firm,  abiding.33 

And  here,  in  connection  with  Caesar's  literary  per- 
formance known  as  Anticato,  mention  may  be  made  of 
the  interesting  fact  that  after  his  election  as  consul  in 
59  B.C.,  he  established  a  new  institution  that  gives  him  a  Caesar  as  a 
place  among  the  founders  of  journalism.  He  originated  Journahst- 
at  Rome  what  we  should  now  describe  as  a  popular  news- 
paper or  handbook,  copied  by  slaves  and  distributed  every 
few  days  to  subscribers,  into  which  was  condensed  the 
most  important  and  interesting  public  and  private  infor- 
mation of  the  day,  for  the  benefit  of  those  rich  enough 

32  Ad  Alt.,  xii,  4.  33  Sihler,  p.  342. 


246 


His  critical 
faculty. 


Caesar's 

sumptuary 

laws. 

Cicero's  fling 
at  the  ordi- 
nance against 
mushrooms. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

to  pay  for  it.34  While  the  regent  was  away  from  Rome 
he  received  of  course  regularly  the  Acta,  finally  a  sort  of 
Moniteur  of  the  Empire,35  in  which  the  utterances  of  all 
important  personages  were  naturally  included.  Writing 
on  that  subject  to  a  friend  in  July,  46  B.C.,  Cicero  said: 

I  think  it  is  my  duty  to  say  nothing  calculated  to  offend  either 
his  [Caesar's]  wishes  or  those  of  his  favorites.  But  if  I  want  to 
avoid  the  credit  of  certain  keen  or  witty  epigrams,  I  must  entirely 
adjure  a  reputation  for  genius,  which  I  would  not  refuse  to  do, 
if  I  could.  But  after  all  Caesar  himself  has  a  very  keen,  critical 
faculty,  and,  just  as  your  cousin  Servius  —  whom  I  consider  to 
have  been  a  most  accomplished  man  of  letters  —  had  no  difficulty 
in  saying:  "This  verse  is  not  Plautus's,  this  is — "  because  classi- 
fying the  various  styles  of  poets  and  by  habitual  reading,  so  I  am 
told  that  Caesar,  having  now  completed  his  volumes  of  bons  mots 
[his  Dicta  Collectanea,  which  Augustus  would  not  allow  to  be 
published. — Suet.,  Caes.,  56],  if  anything  is  brought  to  him  as 
mine,  which  is  not  so,  habitually  rejects  it.  This  he  now  does 
all  the  more  because  his  intimates  are  in  my  company  almost 
every  day.36 

Before  the  end  of  July,  the  victor  at  Thapsus  arrived 
from  Africa  by  way  of  Sardinia ;  and,  as  a  quasi-sovereign, 
he  undertook,  acting  as  praefectus  morum,  to  suppress 
luxurious  living,  through  sumptuary  laws,  under  which 
too  costly  dishes  were  confiscated.  Cicero  could  not  resist 
the  temptation  to  take  a  fling  at  a  certain  ordinance  deal- 
ing with  mushrooms.  In  ridiculing  the  dumb  show  of 
senatorial  government  he  writes : 

34  See  Daremberg  and  Saglio,  D.A.,  vol.  i,  p.  50;  E.  Caetani-Lovatelli, 
"I  giornali  dei  Romani"  in  the  Nuova  Antologia,  November  1,  1901 ;  Fer- 
rero,  Greatness  and  Decline  of  Rome,  vol.  i,  p.  287. 

35  Tacitus  {Ann.,  xvi,  22)  tells  us  that  "The  journals  are  read  with  more 
avidity  than  ever  in  the  provinces  and  the  armies,  to  know  what  Thrasea 
has  last  abstained  from  doing":  "diurna  populi  Romani,  per  provincias, 
per  exercitus  curatius  leguntur,  ut  noscatur  quid  Thrasea  non  facerit." 
See  Bossier,  Tacitus  and  Other  Roman  Studies,  p.  226. 

36  Ad  lam.,  ix,  16;  see  also  Ad  Fam.,  viii,  1. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  247 

I  did  not  myself  at  that  time  desire  to  absent  myself  for  any 
length  of  time  from  the  guardianship  of  the  constitution;  for  I 
was  sitting  at  the  helm  and  holding  the  rudder;  whereas  now  I 
scarcely  have  a  place  in  the  hold.  Do  you  suppose  the  number 
of  senatorial  decrees  will  be  any  the  less  if  I  am  at  Naples? 
While  I  am  at  Rome  and  actually  haunting  the  Forum,  senatorial  How  senato- 
decrees  are  written  out  in  the  house  of  your  admirer,  my  intimate  na'  decrees 
friend  [Caesar],  and  whenever  it  occurs  to  him,  I  am  put  down 
as  backing  a  decree,  and  am  informed  of  its  having  reached  Ar- 
menia and  Syria,  professing  to  have  been  made  in  accordance  with 
my  vote,  before  any  mention  has  been  made  of  the  business  at  all. 
And,  indeed,  I  would  not  have  you  think  that  I  am  joking  about 
this,  for  I  assure  you  I  have  had  letters  from  kings  at  the  other 
end  of  the  earth,  thanking  me  for  having  voted  for  giving  them 
the  royal  title,  as  to  whom  I  was  not  only  ignorant  of  their  having 
been  called  kings,  but  of  their  very  existence  even.  What,  then, 
am  I  to  do?  After  all,  as  long  as  this  friend  of  ours,  this  guardian 
of  morals,  is  here,  I  will  follow  your  advice:  but  directly  he 
goes  away  I  am  off  to  your  mushrooms.5'' 

In  the  midst  of  such  repinings  Cicero  was  suddenly 
called  upon  to  depart  from  his  policy  of  silence,  and  to 
speak  in  the  Senate  in  the  matter  of  his  old  school-fellow, 
Marcus  Claudius  Marcellus,  an  ultra-aristocrat,  who,  as 
consul  in  51  B.C.,  had  been  hostile  to  Caesar,  of  whom 
he  now  refused  to  ask  pardon.  After  having  obtained 
from  his  staunch  republican  friend,  who,  after  Pompey's 
overthrow,  had  retired  to  Mitylene,  his  consent  to  accept 
a  pardon,  if  tendered  him,  Cicero  asked  it  of  Caesar  who, 
to  his  surprise  and  delight,  granted  it  to  his  old  enemy 
promptly  and  graciously.  Carried  away  by  such  noble- 
ness, the  emotional  orator,  in  his  first  speech  since  Phar-   ^     .     „ 

p  '  I  r  t       Oration  Pro 

salia,  pronounced  the  oration  known  as  Pro  Marcello,  in  Marcello. 

37  Ad  Tarn.,  ix,  15.  Max  Budinger,  In  an  able  article  on  Cicero  und  der 
Patriciat,  has  shown  that  cordial  feelings  existed  both  before  and  after  the 
outbreak  of  the  civil  war  between  Cicero  and  Caesar,  not  as  politicians,  but 
a9  men  of  the  world.  Tyrrell,  Cicero  in  His  Letters,  Int.,  xxxi. 


248  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

the  Senate,  in  Caesar's  presence.  The  whole  Senate  had 
interceded  with  Caesar  to  pardon  Marcellus,  and  to  allow 
him  to  return  to  his  country;  and  when  he  yielded  Cicero 
rose  and  thanked  him  for  his  magnanimity. 

The  orator's  letters  fix  the  fact  that  at  that  time  he 
really  hoped  that  the  regent  intended  to  restore  the 
Republic.  Writing  to  Servius  Sulpicius,  immediately  after 
the  incident,  he  relates  how  Caesar,  after  dwelling  se- 
verely on  the  "bitter  spirit"  shown  by  Marcellus,  declared 
that  he  would  not  allow  "his  opinion  about  an  individual 
to  bring  him  into  opposition  to  the  declared  will  of  the 
Senate."    Then  he  adds: 

You  need  not  ask  me  what  I  thought  of  it.  I  saw  in  my 
mind's  eye  the  Republic  coming  back  to  life.  I  had  determined 
to  hold  my  peace  forever;  not,  God  knows,  through  apathy,  but 
because  I  felt  my  former  status  in  the  House  lost  beyond  recall. 
But  Caesar's  magnanimity  and  the  Senate's  loyalty  swept  away 
the  barriers  of  my  reserve.88 

The  ninth  chapter  of  the  speech,  directed  to  the  con- 
sideration of  what  Caesar  is  still  to  do,  thus  begins: 

"Theresto-  This  then  is  what  still  remains,  this  is  the  act  necessary  to 

ration  of  the     COmPlete  the  drama,  this  the  crowning  feat,   the  restoration  of 
Republic."     |  ... 

the  Republic. 

Then,  after  saying: 

Unquestionably,  posterity  will  stand  amazed  when  they  hear  and 
read  of  your  military  commands  —  of  the  provinces  which  you 
have  added  to  the  Empire  —  of  the  Rhine,  of  the  ocean,  of  the 
Nile,  all  subject  to  us  —  of  your  countless  battles,  of  your  incred- 
ible victories,  of  your  innumerable  monuments  and  triumphs, 
[he  added],  have  regard,  then,  to  those  judges  who  will  judge  you 
many  ages  afterwards,  and  who  will  very  likely  judge  you  more 
honestly  than  we  can.  For  their  judgment  will  be  unbiased  by 
as  Ad  Fam.,  iv,  4. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  249 

affection  or  by  ambition,  and  at  the  same  time  it  will  be  untainted      , 
by  hatred  or  by  envy.39 

Froude  has  deliberately  attempted  to  make  it  appear   Froude's 
that   this   speech,    not   regarded   at   the   time   as   over-  srayeln" 

r  °  justice. 

strained,  was  a  base  and  hypocritical  attempt  upon 
the  part  of  Cicero  to  flatter  and  mislead  Caesar  upon  the 
very  eve  of  his  assassination.  That  brilliant  and  pictur- 
esque man  of  letters,  who  would  have  been  a  greater 
historian  if  he  had  struggled  less  for  dramatic  effects, 
says:  "Such  was  the  speech  delivered  by  Cicero  in  the 
Senate  in  Caesar's  presence  within  a  fezv  weeks  of  his 
murder."  The  backbone  of  the  fierce  attack  thus  made 
upon  Cicero's  character  and  motives  is  broken  the  moment 
we  remember  that  the  speech  was  really  delivered  before 
November  23,  46  B.C. —  a  full  year  and  a  half,  instead 
of  a  "few  weeks"  before  the  murder. 

An  acute  historical  critic  has  clearly  demonstrated  from   Exposed  by 
the    documents,    in    an   article    entitled    "Cicero's    Case 
against  Caesar,"  40  how  it  was  that,  during  that  year  and 
a  half  — 

....  the  sincere  admiration  of  Caesar's  character  expressed 
throughout  the  speech  for  Marcellus  was  converted  into  the  feel- 
ing that  produced  the  scream  of  delight  at  the  assassination  of 
Caesar,  preserved  for  us  in  that  extraordinary  little  scribble  to 
Basilus  —  the  shortest  letter  extant,  [in  which  Cicero  wrote:] 
Congratulations!  Delighted!  My  love  and  complete  sympathy! 
Do  send  me,  with  your  love,  a  full  account  of  what  you  are  doing, 
and  what  is  going  on.41 

Certainly  if  the  orator  had  been  in  the  plot,  or  in 
touch  with  the  plans  of  the  conspirators,  his  ignorance 
as  to  what  was  going  on,  on  the  Capitol,  could  not  have 

30  Pro  Marcello,  9. 

40  Quarterly  Review,  No.  368,  October,  1896,  pp.  395-422.     " 

41  Ad  Fam.,  vi,  15. 


an  acute  his- 
torical critic. 


250  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

been  so  sensational  or  so  profound.  Neither  the  learned 
nor  living  narration  of  a  Mommsen,  nor  the  brilliant 
staging  of  Froude  can  permanently  affect  historical  judg- 
ment when  their  manifest  purpose  was  to  exalt  one 
demigod  at  the  expense  of  another. 

While  Caesar's  consent  to  the  restoration  of  Mar- 
cellus  was  still  a  very  recent  occurrence,  the  orator's  serv- 
Defenseof  ices  were  secured  in  behalf  of  another  exile,  Quintus 
Ligarius,  who  had  been  with  the  Pompeians  in  Africa, 
and  to  whom  Cicero  had  written  in  the  latter  part  of 
September  as  follows: 

To  begin  with,  then,  I  will  say  this,  of  which  I  have  a  clear 
knowledge  and  full  perception  —  that  Caesar  will  not  be  very 
obdurate  to  you.  For  circumstances,  as  well  as  the  lapse  of  time 
and  public  opinion,  and  —  as  it  seems  to  me  —  even  his  own 
natural  disposition,  daily  render  him  more  gentle.42 

Ligarius  had  been  impeached  by  Tubero,  an  ancient 
enemy,  upon  the  ground  that  he  had  behaved  with  great 
violence  in  the  prosecution  of  the  African  war  against 
Caesar,  who,  as  there  was  no  organized  court  available 
Caesar  sat  as  to  try  the  case,  ordered  it  be  heard  before  him  as  sole 
« JU  ge-  judge,  sitting  in  his  official  residence,  the  Regia,  on  the 
Forum.  After  the  regent  was  told  who  was  to  appear 
for  the  accused,  he  said:  "Why  might  we  not  as  well 
once  more  hear  a  speech  from  Cicero?  There  is  no 
doubt  that  Ligarius  is  a  bad  man  and  an  enemy."  And 
yet  in  the  teeth  of  such  prejudices  the  orator  so  played 
upon  the  regent's  finer  feelings  that  as  he  advanced  in 
his  argument  the  latter  was  seen  to  change  color  until 
his  emotion  became  visible  to  all.  And  when  "at  length 
the  orator  touching  upon  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  he  was 
so  affected  that  his  body  trembled,  and  some  of  the  papers 

42  Ad  Fam.,  vi,  13. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  251 

he  held  dropped  from  his  hands,  and  thus  he  was  over-   Over- 
powered,   and    acquitted    Ligarius."43      In   plucking    to  blC;™ero>s 
pieces  the  accuser,  who  would  withhold  from  Ligarius    eloquence, 
the  clemency  extended  to  himself,   the   orator,   in  this 
masterpiece  of  art,  said: 

But  I  ask  this:  Who  is  it  who  thinks  that  it  was  a  crime  in 
Ligarius  to  have  been  in  Africa?  Why,  the  very  man  who  himself 
also  wished  to  be  in  Africa,  and  who  complains  that  he  was 
prevented  by  Ligarius  from  going  there,  and  who  certainly  was 
in  arms  and  fought  against  Caesar.  For,  O  Tubero,  what  was 
that  drawn  sword  of  yours  doing  in  the  battle  of  Pharsalia? 
Against  whose  side  was  that  sword-point  of  yours  aimed?  What 
was  the  feeling  with  which  you  took  up  arms?  What  was  your 
intention?  Where  were  your  eyes?  your  hands?  your  eagerness 
of  mind?  What  were  you  desirous  of  ?  What  were  you  wishing 
for?  I  am  pressing  you  too  hard.  The  young  man  appears  to 
be  moved.  I  will  return  to  myself.  I  also  was  in  arms  in  the 
same  camp.4* 

A  moment  before  he  had  said: 

See  how  brilliantly  the  light  of  your  liberality  and  wisdom 
rises  upon  me  while  speaking  before  you!  As  far  as  I  can,  I 
will  lift  up  my  voice  so  that  the  Roman  people  may  hear  me. 
When  the  war  began,  O  Caesar,  when  it  was  even  very  greatly 
advanced  towards  its  end,  I,  though  compelled  by  no  extraneous 
force,  of  my  own  free  judgment  and  inclinations  went  to  join  that 
party  which  had  taken  up  arms  against  you.45 

And  yet,  despite  the  victory  won  in  this  pleading  before 
the  autocrat,  it  is  plain  from  a  letter  written  to  Sulpicius 
Rufus  at  this  time  that  Cicero  considered  his  career  as 
an  advocate  really  at  an  end: 

I  will  only  say,  what  I  hope  you  think  to  be  right,  that  for    Career  as 
j  myself,  seeing  that  for  the  art  to  which  I  had  devoted  myself    an  advocate 
j  there  was  now  no  place  either  in  Forum  or  Senate-house,  I  have 

48  Plut.,  Cic,  39.  .  **  Pro  Q.  Ligario,  3.  «  jyid.,  3. 


252 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Caesar's 
death  grap- 
ple with  sons 
of  Pompey. 


Death  of 
Tullia  early 
in  45  B.C. 


Publilia  sent 
away  with- 
out a  formal 
divorce. 


bestowed  my  every  thought  and  every  effort  on  philosophy.  For 
your  professional  knowledge  —  eminent  and  unrivaled  as  it  is  — 
no  sphere  much  better  has  been  left  than  for  mine.46 

Early  in  November  of  this  eventful  year  Caesar  went 
away  to  Spain  for  the  death  grapple  with  the  sons  of 
Pompey;  and  before  the  end  of  that  month  Cicero  arrived 
at  his  Tusculan  villa  where  his  beloved  Tullia,  divorced 
at  last  from  Dolabella,  her  third  husband,  while  looking 
forward  to  her  confinement,  awaited  him.  It  is  prob- 
able that  at  this  time  Cicero  wrote  the  letter  of  consolation 
to  Titus  Titius  in  which  he  said : 

The  very  condition  of  the  commonwealth  and  the  disturbance 
of  the  times  gone  to  rack  and  ruin,  when  the  most  blessed  are 
those  who  have  not  reared  any  children,  and  those  who  lost  them 
in  these  times  are  less  wretched  than  they  would  be  if  they  had 
lost  them  in  a  good  or  at  least  in  some  form  of  government.47 

To  the  great,  tender,  emotional  nature  that  had 
sounded  all  the  depths  and  shallows  of  human  pleasure 
and  pain,  the  new  year,  45  B.C.,  was  to  bring  a  crowning 
sorrow  in  the  death  of  the  idolized  Tullia,  who  gave  birth 
to  a  son  of  Dolabella  at  Rome  in  January.  So  soon  as 
she  had  gained  sufficient  strength  she  was  removed  to 
the  Tusculan  country-seat  in  the  Alban  hills,  where  Cicero 
closed  her  eyes  about  February  15.48  As  the  awful  soli- 
tude of  his  grief  was  disturbed  by  the  unsympathetic 
Publilia,  he  sent  her  away  it  seems  without  any  formal 
divorce.  In  the  words  of  Plutarch,  "he  took  the  event 
so  much  to  heart  that  he  even  sent  away  his  wife,  as  she 
had  seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  Tullia's  death."  At  such 
a  moment  he  naturally  took  refuge  with  Atticus  at  Rome; 
and,  after  a  brief  sojourn,  he  went  to  Astura  by  the  sea, 
where  he  could  be  alone  with  the  waves. 

48  Ad  Fam.,  iv,  3.  47  Ibid.,  v,  16.  48  Cf.  O.  E.  Schmidt,  p.  271. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  253 

In  almost  daily  letters  he  poured  out  his  grief  to  his   Expressions 
friends.     On  March  9  he  wrote  to  Atticus :  friend*  t0 

In  this  lonely  place  I  have  no  one  with  whom  to  converse,  and, 
plunging  into  a  dense  and  wild  wood  early  in  the  day,  I  do  not 
leave  it  till  evening.  Next  to  you,  I  have  no  greater  friend  than 
solitude.  In  it  my  one  and  only  conversation  is  with  books. 
Even  that  is  interrupted  by  tears,  which  I  fight  against  as  long  as 
I  can.  But  as  yet  I  am  not  equal  to  it.  I  will  answer  Brutus, 
as  you  advise.49 

Not  many  days  before  he  had  received  rather  a  harsh  Harsh  letter 
letter  of  condolence  from  Brutus,  who  charged  him  with  fromBrutus- 
giving  way  to  his  grief  with  a  weakness  unworthy  of  a 
man  whose  habit  it  was  to  console  others.     The  notable 
letter  written  by  the  great  jurist  Sulpicius,  now  governor 
of  Achaia,  was  in  a  more  tender  and  yet  in  a  chiding  vein: 

Why  is  it  that  a  private  grief  should  agitate  you  so  deeply?   Letter  from 
Think  how  fortune  has  hitherto  dealt  with  us.     Reflect  that  we    Sulpiclus 
have  had  snatched   from  us  what  ought  to  be  no  less  dear  to    rep]v 
human  beings  than  their  children  —  country,  honor,  rank,  every 

possible  distinction Now  is  the  time  for  you  to  convince 

us  that  you  are  able  to  bear  ill  fortune  equally  well,  and  that  it 
does  not  appear  to  you  to  be  a  heavier  burden  than  you  ought  to 
think  it.50 

In  reply  he  said: 

In  my  case,  after  losing  the  honors  you  yourself  mention,  and 
which  I  had  gained  by  the  greatest  possible  exertions,  there  was 

only  that  one  solace  left  which  has  now  been  torn  away 

For  there  is  no  republic  now  to  offer  me  a  refuge  and  a  consola- 
tion by  its  good  fortunes  when  I  leave  my  home  in  sorrow,  as- 
there  once  was  a  home  to  receive  me  when  I  returned  saddened 
by  the  state  of  public  affairs.51 

The  new  master,  "he  in  whose  power  we  are,"  did  not 
forget  him  in  his  dark  hour.     Caesar  wrote  him  a  letter 

49  Ad  Att.,  xii,  15 ;  Ad  Brut.,  9.      B0  Ad  Fam.,  iv,  5.      si  ibid.,  iv,  6, , 


254 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Condolence 
from  Caesar. 


The 
Consolatio. 


Profound 
discontent 
at  Rome. 


of  condolence  dated  at  Hispalis  (the  modern  Seville  on 
the  Guadalquivir)  May  31.52  While  sympathetic  friends 
were  thus  striving  to  do  what  they  could,  Cicero's  intro- 
spective spirit  sought  surcease  from  sorrow  in  a  Treatise 
on  Consolation  (Consolatio,  seu  de  luctu  minuendo)  ;53 
and  as  a  physical  monument  to  his  grief  he  proposed  to 
erect  some  kind  of  a  shrine  to  Tullia's  memory. 

I  am  quite  resolved  to  consecrate  her  memory  by  every  kind 
of  memorial  borrowed  from  the  genius  of  every  kind  of  artist, 
Greek  or  Latin.  This  may  perhaps  serve  to  irritate  my  wound, 
but  I  look  upon  myself  as  now  bound  by  a  kind  of  vow  and 
promise.  And  the  infinite  time  during  which  I  shall  be  non- 
existent has  more  influence  on  me  than  this  brief  life,  which  yet 
to  me  seems  only  too  long.54 

When  in  the  midst  of  such  gloom  Atticus  appealed  to 
his  grief-stricken  friend  to  resume  his  place  as  patronus 
on  the  Forum,  he  replied: 

You  urge  me  to  reappear  on  the  Forum;  that  is  a  place  which 
I  ever  avoided  even  in  my  happier  days.  Why,  what  have  I  to 
do  with  a  Forum  when  there  are  no  law  courts,  no  Senate-house, 
and  when  men  are  always  obtruding  on  my  sight  whom  I  cannot 
see  with  any  patience.55 

It  is  impossible  to  read  the  letters  written  by  such 
moderate  men  as  Sulpicius  and  Cicero  at  this  time  with- 
out being  impressed  with  the  profound  discontent  existing 
at  Rome,  even  among  those  who,  like  Sulpicius,  had  been 
loaded  by  Caesar  with  offices  and  emoluments.  Those 
of  his  enemies  who,  after  Pharsalia,  had  only  asked  for 
tranquility  and  protection,  were  now  demanding  a  good 
deal  more.    As  a  keen  observer  has  expressed  it: 

So  long  as  men  are  uncertain  of  their  life,  they  do  not  trouble 
themselves  to  know  if  they  shall  live  free,  but  when  once  life  is 
32  Ad  Att.,  xiii,  20.  B4  Ibid.,  xii,  18.. 

»»  Ibid.,  xii,  14,  20.  55  Ibid->  xii>  *»• 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  255 

assured,  the  desire  for  liberty  returns  to  all  hearts,  and  those  who 
served  Caesar  felt  it  like  the  rest.  Caesar,  we  know,  partly  satis- 
fied this  desire,  but  this  satisfaction  did  not  last  long.  It  is  as 
difficult  to  halt  on  the  road  to  liberty  as  on  that  to  absolutism. 
One  favor  generally  makes  men  desire  another,  and  men  think 
less  of  enjoying  what  they  have  obtained  than  of  lamenting  what 
they  lack.  It  was  thus  that  Cicero,  who  had  welcomed  Caesar's 
clemency  with  transports  of  joy,  and  who  saluted  the  return  of 
Marcellus  as  a  sort  of  restoration  of  the  Republic,  soon  changed 

his  opinion  and  language He  said  on  every  opportunity 

that  all  was  lost,  that  he  blushed  to  be  a  slave,  that  he  was 
ashamed  to  live.58 

The  fall  of  the  Roman  Republic  may  well  be  dated   Fall  of  Ro- 
from  the  final  triumph  over  the  enemies  of  the  new  Caes-   ^,0u^ebebllC 
arean  system  at  Munda  on  March  17,  the  news  of  which   dated  from 
did  not  reach  the  capital  until  the  evening  of  April  20.57  March  17 
The  head  of  the  young  pretender  Cnaeus  Pompey,  who  4SB-c. 
fled  to  Gibraltar,  was  delivered  to  the  regent  on  April 
12  ;B8  his  brother  Sextus   escaped.      Cicero,   writing  to 
Atticus  on  May  5,  says: 

Hirtius  has  written  to  tell  me  that  Sextus  Pompeius  had  quitted 
I  Cordova  and  fled  into  Northern  Spain,  and  that  Cnaeus  [who  had 
S  threatened  to  kill  him  after  Pharsalia]  has  fled  I  don't  know 
\  whither,  nor  do  I  care.59 

When  the  war  in  Spain  ended,  Caesar  completed  his 
answer  to  Cicero's  Cato,  in  two  books,  which  he  sent  at 
once  to  Rome  for  publication.  In  that  way  an  excuse 
was  given  to  the  orator  to  express  his  thanks  for  the 
great  courtesy  with  which  the  regent  had  treated  him, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  compliment  him  upon  the  ele- 
:  gance  of  his  composition.  In  his  account  of  that  per- 
formance he  says  to  Atticus : 

66  Bossier,  Cicero  and  His  Friends,  p.  299. 

57  At  least  thirty-four  days  after  the  event.  —  D10,  43,  42. 

68  Bell.  His  p.,  39. 

°e  Ad  Att.,  xii,  37,  4. 


256 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero  com- 
pliments 
Caesar  on  his 
Anticato. 


Brutus  mar- 
ries Portia. 


A  note 
from  Cato 
to  Cicero. 

The  latter's 
estimate  of 
Brutus. 


The  reason  of  my  not  sending  you  at  the  time  a  copy  of  the 
letter  which  I  wrote  to  Caesar  was  that  I  forgot.  Neither  was 
the  motive  what  you  suspected  it  to  have  been  —  shame  of  ap- 
pearing in  your  eyes  to  be  ridiculously  time-serving;  nor,  by 
heaven,  did  I  write  it  otherwise  than  I  should  have  written  to 
an  equal  and  a  man  like  myself.  For  I  really  do  think  well  of 
those  books  of  his  [Caesar's  Anticato],  as  I  told  you  when  we 
met.  Accordingly  I  wrote  without  any  flattery,  and  at  the  same 
time  in  such  a  tone  as  I  think  will  give  him  as  much  pleasure  to 
read  it  as  possible.60 

Cicero  had  previously  written  to  his  friend  on  the 
subject,  saying: 

As  I  have  not  written  to  him  [Caesar]  before,  he  will  think 
that  I  should  probably  not  have  written  had  not  the  war  been 
over.  Moreover,  I  fear  his  thinking  that  I  meant  this  as  a  sop 
for  my  Cato.61 

About  this  time  Brutus  was  divorcing  his  wife  Claudia, 
intending  to  marry  Portia,  the  daughter  of  his  uncle  Cato 
of  Utica,  the  arch  enemy  of  Caesar,  from  whom  Brutus 
had  been  receiving  large  preferments  since  Pharsalia, 
where  his  life  was  specially  guarded  by  his  orders.  All 
that  remains  to  us  of  Cato  is  a  note,  full  of  refinement 
and  dexterity,  written  from  Rome  in  June,  50  B.C.,  to 
Cicero,  who  was  at  that  time  proconsul  of  Cilicia.62 
Without  Cicero's  letters  and  works  we  should  not  know 
Brutus,  nor  the  history  of  their  connection,  which  lasted 
for  ten  years.  From  Cilicia,  Cicero  wrote  to  Atticus: 
"He  is  already  the  first  among  the  young  men;  he  will 
soon  be,  I  hope,  the  first  in  the  city."63  At  that  time 
this  nephew  of  Cato,  descended  from  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  of  the  Roman  families,  the  brother-in-law  of 
Lepidus  and  Cassius,   had  just  married  a   daughter  of 


60  Ad  Att.,  xiii,  51. 
S1  Ibid.,  xiii,  27. 


02  Ad  Tarn.,  xv,  5. 
63  Ad  Att.,  v,  21, 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  257 

Appius   Claudius,   another  having   already  married  the 
eldest  son  of  Pompey. 

Brutus  had  passed  a  good  deal  of  his  life  at  Athens 
studying  Greek  philosophy,  returning  with  a  great  repu- 
tation for  wisdom,  supported  by  a  virtuous  and  regular 
life.  The  mind  of  this  serious  young  man  was  deliberate  Thecharac- 
and  introspective;  he  reached  conclusions  by  gradual  tefofhls 
processes  in  which  he  became  so  absorbed  that  when  his 
resolve  was  at  last  made  up  nothing  could  move  him. 
Caesar  correctly  described  his  obstinacy  as  the  source  of 
his  strength  when  he  said:  "All  that  he  wills  he  means."  64 
Such  was  the  nature  of  the  man  who,  at  thirty-seven,  went 
to  Thessaly,  despite  the  fact  that  he  hated  Pompey  and 
loved  Caesar  who  treated  him  with  paternal  affection, 
because  he  deemed  it  his  duty  to  follow  the  consuls  and 
the  Senate  as  the  defenders  of  liberty.  After  doing  his 
duty  bravely  at  Pharsalia,  Brutus  was  completely  won  Won  over  by 
over  by  the  conqueror  whom  he  followed  in  his  conquests  vh^'y* 
of  Egypt  and  Asia.  Caesar  did  all  in  his  power  to  attach 
Brutus  by  granting  him  the  pardon  of  some  of  the  most 
deeply  compromised  of  the  Pompeians,  and  by  assigning 
to  him  the  government  of  one  of  the  great  provinces  of 
the  Empire,  Cisalpine  Gaul. 

Servilia,   Cato's   sister   and   Brutus'   mother,   was   the   Caesar's 
object  of  one  of  Caesar's  violent  passions,  and  scandal   loveforhls 

•  r  '  mother. 

said  she  was  his  mistress.    She  certainly  retained  her  sway 

over  him  to  her  pecuniary  advantage  even  after  Pharsalia, 

and  she  did  all  in  her  power  to  draw  her  son  close  to 

\  Caesar.     But  a  counter-influence  came  when  Brutus  mar- 

t  ried  his  cousin  Portia,  the  daughter  of  Cato,  who  brought 

j  to  her  new  home  all  of  the  passions  of  her  father  and  first 

husband,  Bibulus,  added  to  her  own  hatred  of  the  author 

84  Ad  Au.,  xlv,  i. 


258 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


His  plans 
manifest 
after  Phar- 
salia. 


Brutus  the 
Hamlet  of 
Roman 
politics. 

Cicero  his 
tutor. 


of  all  her  misfortunes.  Thus  influenced  from  within, 
Brutus  was  assailed  from  without  by  the  anti-monarchical 
elements  eager  to  group  themselves  around  a  leader 
whose  character  and  courage  would  give  dignity  and 
solidity  to  the  cause. 

So  long  as  Pompey  and  Caesar  faced  each  other  in 
arms  as  jealous  rivals,  those  who  suspected  the  former  of 
a  design  to  overthrow  the  constitution  comforted  them- 
selves with  the  hope  that  the  latter  only  aspired  to  a  tem- 
porary dictatorship.  But  after  Pharsalia,  that  illusion 
vanished  when  it  became  plain  that  the  victor  intended  to 
found  a  new  and  monarchical  system.  While  it  is  impos- 
sible to  trace  the  details,  it  seems  to  be  clear  that  such  a 
menace  generated  opposition  not  only  among  the  sena- 
torial party  discomforted  by  the  overthrow  of  Pompey, 
but  among  Caesar's  own  generals  who  were  jealous  of  his 
dazzling  ascendency.  Thus  it  was  that  while  Cassius  was 
meditating  his  murder  on  the  banks  of  the  Cydnus,  Tre- 
bonius  had  been  almost  in  the  act  of  making  way  with  him 
at  Narbonne. 

The  greatest  need  of  the  two  disconnected  groups  of 
opponents  to  the  regent  was  a  leader  who  represented  not 
only  a  name  but  a  principle;  "one  who  should  represent 
the  Republic  and  liberty  without  any  personal  reserva- 
tions." 65  The  ideal  man  was  Brutus,  who,  when  we  con- 
sider his  gloomy  habits,  his  introspective  mind,  his  fanat- 
ical republicanism,  his  peculiar  relations  to  his  mother's 
lover,  his  general  popularity,  may,  without  exaggeration, 
be  called  the  Hamlet  of  Roman  politics.  No  one  did 
more  to  prepare  Brutus  for  his  mission  than  Cicero,  who 
entered  into  the  closest  literary  relationship  with  him. 
While  only  twenty-five  of  the  letters  between  them  sur- 

65  Boissier,  p.  330. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  259 

vive,  all  written  after  the  death  of  Caesar,  the  collection 
must  have  been  extensive  since  a  grammarian  quotes  the 
ninth  book  of  them.  In  one  work  dedicated  to  him 
Cicero  says:  "Who  was  ever  more  respected  and  loved 
than  you  ?"  66    In  another,  also  dedicated  to  him,  he  says : 

Brutus,  I  feel  my  grief  revive  when  I  look  upon  you  and  con- 
sider how  the  unhappy  fate  of  the  Republic  has  arrested  the  rapid 
advance  to  glory  which  we  anticipated  in  your  youth.  This  is  the 
true  cause  of  my  sorrow,  this  is  the  cause  of  my  cares  and  those  of 
Atticus,  who  shares  in  my  esteem  and  affection  for  you.  You  are 
the  object  of  all  our  interest;  we  desire  that  you  should  reap  the 
fruits  of  your  virtue ;  our  most  earnest  wishes  are  that  the  condi- 
tions of  the  Republic  may  permit  you  one  day  to  revive  and  increase 
the  glory  of  the  two  illustrious  houses  you  represent.  You  ought 
to  be  master  in  the  Forum  and  reign  there  without  rival ;  we  are,  in 
truth,  doubly  afflicted,  that  the  Republic  is  lost  for  you,  and  you 
for  the  Republic.07 

Under  such  influences,  the  younger  man  was  continually 
brooding  over  the  glory  of  that  Brutus  who  had  expelled 
the  Tarquins,  thus  filling  his  mind  with  ideals  drawn  from  Ideals  drawn 
the  history  of  earlier  times.  The  most  notable  of  the  times 
philosophical  works  of  Brutus,  of  which  only  brief  frag- 
ments remain,  was  the  treatise  On  Virtue,  addressed  to 
Cicero,  an  important  passage  from  which  has  been  pre- 
served by  Seneca,68  the  point  of  which  is  that  as  a  man 
going  into  exile  can  take  all  his  virtue  with  him,  he  must 
not  complain.  On  the  subject  of  patriotic  duty  he  says  in 
his  letters : 

Our  ancestors  thought  that  we  ought  not  to  endure  a  tyrant    Patriotic 

even  if  he  were  our  father To  have  more  authority  than    duty  defined. 

the  laws  and  the  Senate  is  a  right  that  I  would  not  grant  to  my 

father  himself No  slavery  is  advantageous  enough  to  make 

me  abandon  the  resolution  to  be  free.69 

68  Orat.,  x.  8S  Cons,  ad  Helv.,  ix. 

67  Brut.,  97.  69  Epis.  Brut.,  i,  17 ;  ibid.,  i,  16. 


26o 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Caesar's 
return  in 
September, 
45  B.C. 


Brutus  met 
him  at  Nice. 


Such  were  the  relations  between  Cicero  and  Brutus  in 
the  fall  of  45  B.C.,  when  Caesar  returned  to  Italy,  after 
having  been  engaged  in  Spain  during  the  five  months  that 
followed  the  triumph  at  Munda  in  reorganizing  the  ad- 
ministration of  that  province.  He  had  already  granted 
an  amnesty;  and  in  order  to  show  that  the  past  was  really 
forgotten  he  drew  no  distinction  between  his  friends  and 
his  enemies,  impartially  recommending  for  office  those 
whose  position  or  services  to  the  state  entitled  them  to 
promotion.  He  even  restored  the  statues  of  Sulla  and 
Pompey  which  had  been  thrown  down  in  the  revolution ; 
and  he  sent  a  pleasing  compliment  to  Cicero  concerning 
his  Cato.70 

It  seems  that  Brutus  went  to  meet  the  regent  on  his 
return  from  Spain,  and  at  Nice  made  an  oration  before 
him  in  favor  of  old  Deiotarus,  king  or  tetrarch  of  Gala- 
tia,  who  had  been  accused  of  plotting  upon  a  certain  occa- 
sion against  Caesar's  life.  Despite  the  spirited  vehemence 
with  which  Brutus  is  said  to  have  presented  the  case,  he 
was  not  able  to  prevail  for  Deiotarus,  and  in  that  way 
Cicero  was  called  upon  to  reargue  the  matter  before  the 
regent  in  the  Pontifical  Palace,  probably  in  November.71 
This  was  the  last  case  the  great  advocate  ever  pleaded; 
and  in  his  discourse  he  did  his  best  to  appeal  to  all  that 
was  noblest  and  gentlest  in  the  demigod  in  whose  honor 
a  temple  to  Clemency  had  been  erected.  His  last  words 
were: 


Cicero's  last  I  entreat  you,  O  Caius  Caesar,  to  consider  that  on  this  day 
oration  as  y0ur  sentence  will  bring  on  those  kings  either  most  miserable 
an  a  vocate.     cajamjtyj  accompanied  with  infinite  disgrace,  or  an  unsullied  repu- 

70  There  was  a  good  deal  about  my  Cato.   He  says  that  by  repeatedly 
reading  it  he  had  increased  his  command  of  language.  —  Ad  Alt.,  xiii,  46. 

71  E.  O.  Schmidt,  p.  362. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  261 

tation  attended  with  safety;  and  to  desire  the  one  of  those  results 
would  be  an  act  of  cruelty,  to  secure  the  other  an  action  suitable 
to  your  clemency.72 

The  regent  simply  postponed  judgment  with  the  inti-    \ 
mation  that  when  he  undertook  the  Parthian  campaign, 
then  in  contemplation,  he  would  pursue  the  inquiry  on  the 
spot.     Before  the  close  of  the  year  Caesar  was  the  guest 
of  Cicero  at  his  villa  near  Puteoli,  the  former  having   Caesar  his 
come  to  that  neighborhood  to  visit  the  mother  and  step-   E^^, 
father  of  Octavius  whose  designation  as  heir  was  still 
unknown  even  to  the  youth's  nearest  relatives.    In  describ- 
ing the  visit  to  Atticus  the  orator  said: 

Well,  I  have  no  reason  after  all  to  repent  my  formidable  guest ! 
For  he  made  himself  exceedingly  pleasant.  But  on  his  arrival  at 
the  villa  of  Philippus  on  the  evening  of  the  second  day  of  the  Satur- 
nalia [which  began  on  December  17],  the  villa  was  so  choke  full 
of  soldiers  that  there  was  scarcely  a  dining-room  left  for  Caesar 
himself  to  dine  in.  Two  thousand  men,  if  you  please!  I  was  in  a 
great  taking  as  to  what  was  to  happen  the  next  day ;  and  so  Cassius 

Barba  came  to  my  aid  and  gave  me  guards After  two,  he 

went  to  the  bath.     Then  he  heard  about  Mamurra  [his  old  chief 

of  engineers  who  had  died]  without  changing  countenance.     He   The  dinner. 

was  anointed ;  took  his  place  at  the  table.    He  was  under  a  course 

of  emetics,73  and  so  ate  and  drank  without  scruple  and  as  suited 

his  taste.     It  was  a  very  good  dinner,  and  well  served,  and  not 

only  so  but 

Well-cooked,  well-seasoned  food,  with  rare  discourse: 
A  banquet,  in  a  word,  to  cheer  the  heart.74 

....  We  didn't  say  a  word  about  politics.  There  was  plenty  of 
literary  talk.    In  short,  he  was  pleased  and  had  a  good  time.75 

On  December  31,  the  consul  Fabius  Maximus  died  sud- 
denly, whereupon  an  "election"  was  held  immediately, 

72  Pro  Rege  Deiot.,  15. 

73  A  process  that  held  somewhat  the  place  in  medical  treatment  that 
bleeding  did  a  century  ago. 

74  Verses  of  Lucilius.  75  Ad  Att.,  xiii,  52. 


262 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


and  Caninius  Rebilus  was  named  by  the  regent  in  the 
A  mockery  of  afternoon  to  an  office  that  continued  only  through  the  re- 
cons^tutbn.     mamder  of  the  day.     In  the  midst  of  the  raillery  and 

indignation  provoked  by  such  a  mockery  of  the  ancient 

constitution  Cicero  wrote  to  Curius  : 

Though  these  things  are  painful  even  to  hear  of,  yet  after  all 
hearing  is  more  bearable  than  seeing.  At  any  rate  you  were  not  on 
the  Campus  Martius  when,  the  comitia  for  the  quaestors  being 
opened  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  curule  chair  of  Q. 
Maximus  —  whom  that  party  affirmed  to  be  consul  —  was  set  in  its 
place,  and  then  on  the  death  being  announced  was  removed :  where- 
upon Caesar,  who  had  taken  the  auspices  as  for  a  comitia  tributa, 
held  a  comitia  centuriata,  and  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock 
announced  the  election  of  a  consul  to  hold  office  till  January  I. 
which  was  the  next  day.  Thus  I  may  inform  you  that  no  one 
breakfasted  during  the  consulship  of  Caninius.  However,  no  mis- 
chief was  done  while  he  was  consul,  for  he  was  of  such  astonishing 
vigilance  that  throughout  his  consulship  he  never  had  a  wink  of 
sleep.  You  think  this  a  joke,  for  you  were  not  here.  If  you  had 
been  you  would  not  have  refrained  from  tears.76 

Nothing  could  illustrate  more  vividly  than  this  incident 
the  extent  to  which  the  regent  had  abolished  in  his  own 
interest  everything  but  the  form  of  popular  election,  the 
choice  of  consuls  and  praetors  being  made  by  him  several 
years  in  advance. 

While  the  hearts  of  those  who  still  clung  to  the  past 
were  being  fired  by  such  open  mockeries  of  the  sovereign 
dignity  of  the  state  in  the  ancient  assembly  of  the  people, 
the  Senate  added  fuel  to  the  flame  by  inventing  fresh  titles 
and  conferring  fresh  powers  upon  one  who  was  king  in 
fact  but  not  in  name,  the  Roman  people  being  still  sensi- 
tive about  names.  After  making  Caesar  dictator  for 
life,77  and,  as  the  surviving  organ  of  the  Republic,  bestow- 

76  Ad  Fam.,  vii,  30.  T7  Bio,  xliv,  8 ;  App.,  B.  C,  ii,  106. 


No  one 
breakfasted 
during  the 
consulship 
of  Caninius. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  263 

ing  upon  him  all  the  essentials  of  monarchy,  the  Senate 
voted  next  that  he  should  really  be  king,  offering  him  ten- 
tatively the  crown.    When  he  refused,  thus  avoiding  what 
appeared  to  be  a  snare,  Dio  says  they  employed  someone  Caesar  salut- 
to  place  a  diadem  on  the  head  of  his  statue  which  stood  janauaryf6 
upon  the  Rostra.    On  January  26,  as  he  rode  through  the   44B.C. 
streets,  he  had  been  saluted  as  king  by  the  mob.78 

The  matter  assumed,  however,  a  more  serious  form  at 
the  ancient  carnival  of  the  Lupercalia,  on  February  15,  The  stage 
when  the  regent,  robed  in  his  consular  purple,  and  wear-  p!^°ar 
ing  a  wreath  of  bay,  wrought  in  gold,  was  approached  by  carnival  of 
his  colleague  in  the  consulship,  Antony,  who  placed  a  tiara     uPerca  ia- 
on  his  head,  saying:  "The  people  give  you  this  by  my 
hands."  79     It  may  be  that  this  was  deliberate  stage  play 
suggested  by  Caesar  who,  after  announcing  in  a  loud  voice 
"that  the  Romans  had  no  king  but  God,"  ordered  that  the 
tiara  should  be  placed  on  the  statue  of  Jupiter  Olympus 
on  the  Capitol. 

But  such  declarations  did  not  mislead  the  vengeful 
coterie  who  were  now  driving  Brutus  on  to  action;  their 
bitter  words  of  denunciation  for  the  master  and  his  satel- 
lites had  in  them  what  Cicero  calls  "the  bite  of  liberty 
which  never  tears  better  than  when  she  has  been  muzzled 
for  a  season."  80  They  knew  that  the  time  for  action  had 
arrived,  and  upon  Cassius,  the  man  of  a  party,  the  man  Cassiusasa 
who  embodied  the  envenomed  hate  of  the  vanquished  aris-  nerve 
tocracy,  devolved  the  task  of  nerving  the  arm  of  the  man 
of  conviction,  who  loved  the  person  of  the  Dictator  while 

78  When  the  tribunes  put  some  of  the  offenders  into  prison  Caesar  passed 
a  law  deposing  them  and  expelling  them  from  the  Senate.  Then  it  was  that 
he  said  he  had  given  a  weapon  to  his  enemies.  —  App.,  B.  C,  ii,  108 ;  Suet, 
Caes.,  79  ;  Dio,  xliv,  10. 

79  Cf.  II  Phil.,  34;  Sihler,  Annals  of  Caesar,  pp.  256  sqq. 
a°De  Off.,  ii,  7. 


264 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


hating   his    system.      Upon    him    the    whole    enterprise 
depended.81 

When  the  conspirators  strove  to  win  accomplices,  the 
His  insidious  answer  came  from  every  side :  "We  will  join  you  if  Brutus 

Brutus" t0  wil1  lead  us-"  After  the  feast  of  the  Lupercalia,  when  he 
could  no  longer  doubt  Caesar's  intentions,  his  brother-in- 
law  Cassius  "took  him  by  the  hand"  and  said: 

"What  shall  we  do  if  Caesar's  flatterers  propose  to  make  him 
king?"  Brutus  answered  that  he  purposed  not  to  go  to  the  Senate. 
"What,"  replied  Cassius,  "if  we  are  summoned  in  our  capacity  as 
praetors,  what  must  we  do  then?"  "I  will  defend  the  Republic," 
said  the  other,  "to  the  last."  "Will  you  not  then,"  replied  Cassius, 
embracing  him,  "take  some  of  the  senators,  as  parties  to  your 
designs?  Do  you  think  it  is  worthless  and  mercenary  people,  or 
the  chief  citizens  of  Rome  who  place  on  your  tribunal  the  writings 
you  find  there?  They  expect  games,  races,  or  hunting  spectacles 
from  the  other  praetors;  what  they  demand  of  you  is  that  you 
should  restore  liberty  to  Rome,  as  your  ancestors  did." 82 


Brutus  be- 
comes at  last 
the  head. 


Thus  won  over,  Brutus  became  at  last  the  head,  the 
leader,  of  a  conspiracy  that  had  been  designed  by  Cassius, 
the  imperious  and  testy  aristocrat,  the  daring  and  skilful 
military  chief  who,  after  rescuing  the  remains  of  the  army 
of  Crassus,  had  driven  the  Parthians  from  Syria.  By  the 
side  of  Brutus  and  Cassius  as  leaders  of  what  remained  of 
the  beaten  aristocracy,  stood  the  great  military  chiefs  like 
Labienus,  Trebonius,  and  Decimus  Brutus,  who  had  been 
enriched  by  Caesar's  bounty,  and  two  of  whom  were  about 
to  receive  fresh  favors  in  the  immediate  future.  It  is  said 
that  of  the  sixty  senators  in  all  who  were  parties  to  the 
immediate  conspiracy,  nine-tenths  were  members  of  the 

81  Plutarch  {Brut.,  9)  says:  "From  the  beginning  there  was  in  the 
nature  of  Cassius  a  certain  ill-will  and  hostility  to  the  kingly  tribe,"  which 
he  illustrates  by  an  anecdote. 

82  App.,  B.  C,  ii,  113- 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  265 

old  faction  whom  Caesar  had  pardoned,  and  who,  of  all 
his  acts,  resented  most  that  he  had  been  able  to  pardon 
them. 

He  was  to  set  out  in  a  few  days  for  Parthia ;  the  ides  of   The  ides  of 
March  (the  15th  of  the  month)  were  at  hand,  on  which 
day  there  was  to  be  an  important  meeting  of  the  Senate; 
and  it  was  rumored  that  after  the  pontifices  had  brought 
forward  an  old  sibylline  oracle  which  said  that  the  Par- 
thians  could  only  be  conquered  by  a  king,  that  title  was  to 
be  demanded  for  Caesar.83     On  the  evening  before,  the 
plan  of  action  for  the  next  day  was  arranged  at  a  supper 
given  at  the  house  of  Cassius,  to  which  Cicero  was  not 
invited.    The  same  evening  when  Caesar  was  at  supper  at   Supper  at  the 
the  house  of  Lepidus,  the  conversation  turned  on  what   CMtko. 
kind  of  death  was  most  desirable.     The  predestined  vic- 
tim, who  was  signing  papers  while  the  rest  were  talking, 
looked  up  and  said,  "a  sudden  one." 

It  is  impossible  to  know  whether  Cicero  was  actually 
present  in  the  Senate,  sitting  in  the  curia  of  Pompey,  at  the 
moment  of  Caesar's  assassination.     Certain  it  is  that  he   Cicero  not 
was  not  one  of  the  actual  conspirators.     He  was  not  in-   a"teu°] 
vited  to  the  supper  at  the  house  of  Cassius  the  night   conspirators, 
before,  a  fact  that  goes  far  to  confirm  Plutarch,  who  says 
expressly  that  the  plot  was  concealed  from  him  — 

....  lest  to  his  own  disposition,  which  was  naturally  timorous, 
adding  now  to  the  wariness  and  caution  of  old  age,  and  by  his 
weighing  as  he  would  every  particular  that  he  might  not  make  one 
step  without  the  greatest  security,  he  should  blunt  the  edge  of  their 
forwardness  and  resolution. 

And  yet  Brutus  seems  to  have  looked  upon  him  as  the  very 
embodiment  of  the  ancient  constitution  he  was  defending 
because,  as  the  senator  rushed  into  the  Forum,  waving  his 

83  Suet.,  Caes.,  79. 


266  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

dagger  red  with  Caesar's  blood,  he  shouted  the  name  of 

Cicero,  and  congratulated  him,  as  the  representative  of 

Butimme-       the    Republic,    upon   the    restoration   of   liberty.      That 

fied  all  that"     Cicero  immediately  ratified  and  approved  all  that  had 

had  been         been  done  we  know,  first,  from  his  telegraphic  letter  to 

Basilus,  in  which  he  says : 

I  congratulate  you!  For  myself  I  am  rejoiced!  I  love  you.  I 
watch  over  your  interests:  I  desire  to  be  loved  by  you  and  to  be 
informed  of  how  you  are,  and  what  is  being  done ; 84 

and,  secondly,  from  the  statement  in  the  Second  Philippic, 
where  he  says : 

For  what  is  the  difference  between  a  man  who  has  advised  an 
action,  and  one  who  has  approved  of  it?  or  what  does  it  signify 
whether  I  wished  it  to  be  done,  or  rejoice  that  it  has  been  done? 
Is  there  anyone  then,  except  you  yourself  and  those  men  who 
wished  him  to  become  a  king,  who  was  unwilling  that  that  deed 
should  be  done,  or  who  disapprove  of  it  after  it  was  done?  All 
men,  therefore,  are  guilty  as  far  as  this  goes.  In  truth  all  good 
men,  as  far  as  it  depended  on  them,  bore  a  part  in  the  slaying  of 
Caesar.  Some  did  not  know  how  to  contrive  it,  some  had  not 
courage  for  it,  some  had  no  opportunity  —  everyone  had  the 
inclination.85 

Of  course  it  never  occurred  to  Cicero,  obedient  as  he 

was  to  the  political  ethics  of  his  age,   that  regicide  in 

Made  him-      defense    of   liberty   could   be   considered   a   crime.     He 

self  an  acces-  exuited  jn  sucn  an  aC(-  as  the  most  glorious  in  the  annals  of 

sory  arter  ... 

the  fact.  fame,  and  did  all  in  his  power  to  make  himself  an  acces- 

sory after  the  fact.     In  subsequent  letters  he  said  that  — 

....  though  everything  goes  wrong,  the  ides  of  March  console 
me.  But  our  heroes  have  done  gloriously  and  nobly  what  depended 
on  themselves  to  do.  What  remains  requires  money  and  resources, 
of  both  of  which  we  are  destitute. 

s*  Ad  Yam.,  vi,  15.  85  II  Phil,  12. 


E 

o 

la 

a 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  267 

And  in  a  letter  to  Cassius,  he  exclaims, 

Oh,  that  you  had  invited  me  to  the  feast  of  the  ides  of  March : 
there  would  have  been  no  remains ! 86 

that  is  to  say,  Antony  would  not  have  escaped. 

The  only  thing  that  seems  to  have  displeased  Cicero   cicerodepre- 
was  the  lack  of  foresight,  the  lack  of  prearranged  plan   S^wJand* 
upon  the  part  of  the  conspirators.     He  said  "They  had   foresight, 
acted  with  manly  courage,  but  childish  judgment:  ammo 
virili,  consilio  pueriliT  87     The  theory  upon  which  they 
had  acted  was  that  the  Roman  people  were  being  held  in 
bondage  by  a  tyrant  whose  death  would  set  them  free. 
But  when  the  deed  was  done,  and  the  conspirators  rushed 
out  of  the  Senate-house  brandishing  their  swords  and  call- 
ing upon  the  people  to  assert  themselves,  they  simply  list- 
ened with  surprise,  but  without  anger  or  sympathy. 

Under  such  conditions  the  tyrannicides,  after  the  mob,    Tyrannicides 
unmoved  by  the  cry  of  liberty,  had  refused  to  hail  them   !°u^hishA1_ 

'  '  *'  term  the  Arx. 

as  deliverers  of  their  country,  after  speeches  by  Brutus 
and  Cassius  made  in  a  contio  had  received  only  a  cold 
response,  after  it  was  plain  that  the  fire  would  not  kindle, 
deemed  it  prudent  to  shelter  themselves  in  the  Arx  of 
Rome,  while  Lepidus  came  with  troops  and  occupied  the 
Forum.  At  that  moment  when  it  was  plain  "that  the  Lepidus 
people  would  not  respond,"  it  was  Cicero's  idea  that  the  occupied 
Senate  should  have  been  convoked  in  order  that  favorable 
decrees  might  have  been  extorted  from  its  fears.  On 
April  19  he  wrote  to  Atticus: 

Do  you  not  remember  that  on  that  very  first  day  of  the  retreat 
upon  the  Capitol  I  claimed  that  the  Senate  should  be  summoned 
into  the  Capitoline  temple  ?    Good  heavens,  what  might  have  been 

seAd  Fam.,  xii,  4:   "Vellem  Idibus  Martiis  me  ad  caenam  invitasses; 
reliquiarum  nihil  fuisset." 
87  Ad  Att.,  xv,  4. 


268 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


The  old 

citizenship 
not  asleep, 
but  dead. 


Appian's 
statement. 


Froude's 
insight. 


Caesar's 
substitute 
a  necessity. 


effected  then,  when  all  loyalists  —  even  semi-loyalists  —  were  exult- 
ant, and  brigands  utterly  dismayed.88 

What  neither  Cicero  nor  Brutus  could  understand  was 
that  the  Roman  citizenship,  from  which  the  ancient  re- 
publican constitution  had  drawn  the  breath  of  life,  had 
ceased  to  exist  —  it  was  not  asleep,  it  was  dead.  It  had 
disappeared  in  the  disintegrating  process  through  which 
the  old  city-republic  had  been  transformed  into  a  military 
empire.     As  Arjpian  had  expressed  it: 

For  a  very  long  time  the  Roman  people  was  only  a  mixture  of 
all  the  nations.  The  freedmen  were  confounded  with  the  citizens, 
the  slave  had  no  longer  anything  to  distinguish  him  from  his  mas- 
ter. In  a  word,  the  distributions  of  corn  that  were  made  at  Rome 
gathered  the  beggars,  the  idle,  and  the  vagabonds  from  all  Italy.83 

In  the  words  of  one  whose  insight  is  often  unclouded 
by  prejudice  or  passion:  "In  the  army  only  remained 
the  imperial  consciousness  of  the  honor  and  duty  of 
Roman  citizens.  To  the  army,  therefore,  the  rule  was 
transferred."90  Naturally  the  very  powerful  body  of 
veterans,  many  of  whom  were  then  awaiting  assignments 
of  land  in  Rome,  refused,  even  with  more  emphasis  than 
the  people  in  general,  either  to  approve  or  condone  the 
act  by  which  the  head  of  the  new  monarchical  system  had 
been  removed.  And  some  of  the  best  and  wisest  recog- 
nized the  fact  that  the  collapse  of  the  old  constitution  had 
been  so  complete  that  Caesar's  substitute  was  an  absolute 
necessity,  possibly  a  beneficent  necessity.  Cicero's  clear- 
visioned  friend  Marrius,  whose  villa  he  visited  early  in 
April,  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  if  Caesar's  genius  had 
failed  to  provide   anything  better,   who   could  hope   to 

s8  Ad  Att,  xiv,  10. 

89  De  Bell.  Civ.,  ii,  120. 

90  Froude,  Caesar,  p.  430. 


CICERO  AND  CAESAR  269 

improve  on  what  he  had  done?     In  a  letter  written  to 
Atticus  on  April  7,  the  orator  says: 

I  have  come  on  a  visit  to  the  man,  of  whom  I  was  talking  to  you 
this  morning  [Caius  Ma+ius].  His  view  is  that  "the  state  of  things 
is  perfectly  shocking:  that  there  is  no  way  out  of  the  embroglio. 
For  if  a  man  of  Caesar's  genius  failed,  who  can  hope  to  succeed?" 
In  short,  he  says  that  the  ruin  is  complete.91 

The  ruin  of  the  old  republican  constitution  was  com- 
plete, and  the  only  two  questions  that  remained  were 
these :  first,  to  what  extent  and  in  what  form  should  the 
new  Caesarean  system  survive;  second,  who  should  be 
Caesar's  heir?  Cicero  was  among  the  first  to  perceive 
the  actual  condition  of  things.  On  April  11  and  18  he 
wrote  to  Atticus: 

You  see,  after  all,  the  tyrant's  hangers-on  in  the  enjoyment  of    "The tyranny 

the  imperium,  you  see  his  armies,  his  veterans  on  our  flank survives 

/-1  \~y  «iii  'ii  though  the  ty- 

Good  God !  the  tyranny  survives  though  the  tyrant  is  dead.92  rant  js  dead." 

81  Ad  Att.,  xiv,  1.  92  Ibid.,  xiv,  5,  9. 


CHAPTER  X 


Caesar's 
adoption  of 
Octavius. 


Career  of 

Antony. 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH   WITH  ANTONY 

Certainly  Caesar  expected  his  military  monarchy  to 
survive  him  and  to  become  hereditary  in  his  family.  The 
childless  regent  took  the  first  step  in  that  direction  when 
he  adopted  Octavius,  the  son  of  his  niece,  Atia;  the 
second,  when  on  September  13,  45  B.C.,  he  drew  up  his 
will  and  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  the  chief  Vestal  Virgin, 
making  Octavius  his  universal  heir.1 

The  most  formidable  foe  to  that  plan  was  Marcus 
Antonius,  generally  known  as  Mark  Antony,  who  quickly 
resolved  to  seize  the  purple  of  his  fallen  benefactor  and 
to  make  himself  his  heir.  Antony,  whose  stepfather  Len- 
tulus  had  been  put  to  death  by  Cicero  as  one  of  the 
Catiline  conspirators,  began  a  new  career  in  Gaul  when 
in  54  B.C.  he  was  welcomed  by  Caesar,  who,  in  order  to 
make  him  more  efficient  as  a  promoter  of  his  ambitious 
designs,  elevated  him  to  the  offices  of  quaestor,  augur, 
and  tribune  of  the  plebs,  in  the  last  of  which  he  displayed 
marvelous  boldness  and  dexterity  in  upholding  his 
patron's  cause  against  the  intrigues  and  violence  of  the 
Pompeian  party. 

After  the  Rubicon  was  crossed,  Antony  shared  his 
master's  triumphs,  being  second  in  command  at  Pharsalia, 
and  deputy-governor  of  Italy  during  Caesar's  long 
absences  in  Spain  and  Africa.     At  the  opening  of  the 

1  Suet,  Caes.,  83.  Three-fourths  of  the  estate  was  thus  bequeathed  to 
Octavius,  an  eighth  to  L.  Pinarius,  an  eighth  to  Q.  Pedius.  The  Vestals 
were  frequently  made  the  custodians  of  wills.  —  Tac,  Ann.,  i,  8;  Plut., 
Ant.,  58. 

270 


Mark  Antony.    The  Vatican. 


THE  D  UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  WITH  ANTONY  271 

year  in  which  the  assassination  occurred,  the  regent  as- 
sumed the  consulship  with  Antony  as  his  colleague,  thus 
leaving  him  at  the  head  of  the  state  when  he  died.  Armed   Head  of  the 
with  that  authority  the  senior  consul,  after  he  had  recov-  stat,ea^    "" 

'  '  sar  s  death. 

ered  from  the  terror  inspired  by  the  fear  that  he  was  to 
be  the  next  victim,  removed  the  public  funds,  amounting 
to  the  enormous  sum  of  seven  hundred  million  sesterces 
($30,800,000),  according  to  Cicero,2  from  the  Regia 
and  the  temple  of  Ops  to  his  own  house  in  the  Cannae. 
Then,  after  gaining  possession  of  Caesar's  papers  which 
Calpurnia,  acting  apparently  under  her  father's  counsel, 
willingly  handed  over  to  him,  called  by  edict  a  session  of 
the  Senate  which  met  in  the  temple  of  Tellus  on  March  Meeting  of 
17,  probably  before  daybreak.  He  had  already  won  MearScehn^°n 
over  Lepidus,  who  in  the  night  following  the  assassina- 
tion had  occupied  the  Forum  with  the  legion  stationed  on 
the  island  in  the  Tiber,  by  promising  him  the  office  of 
pontifex  maximns  made  vacant  by  Caesar's  death,  and  the 
marriage  of  his  daughter  to  Lepidus'  son. 

The  approaches  to  the  Senate  were  carefully  guarded 
by  soldiers  when   it  met  in   the  memorable   session   in 
which  Cicero,  "who  laid  the  foundations  of  peace,"  pro-   Cicero  pro- 
posed a  general  amnesty,  including  of  course  the  slavers   Posedagen- 

r  °  * '  °  '  eral  amnesty. 

of  the  regent,  conceding  at  the  same  time  Antony's  de- 
mand that  all  the  appointments  made  and  directions  given 
by  the  regent  should  stand.  Piso,  Caesar's  father-in-  Caesar's  will 
law,  then  proposed  that  the  contents  of  his  will,  still  in  andfuneral- 
the  custody  of  the  Vestal  Virgins,  should  be  published, 
and  that  he  should  be  given  a  public  funeral.  To  both 
resolutions  the  Senate  agreed.  As  Antony  was  then  in 
possession  of  Caesar's  papers,  the  land  assignments  for 
his  veterans  were  of  course  to  be  carried  out. 

2 II  Phil,  37. 


272 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Truce  be- 
tween regi- 
cides and 
Caesarians. 


Athenian 
settlement 
of  403  B.C. 


Necessity  for 
the  reestab- 
lishment  of 
peace  and 
order. 


It  is  not  from  Appian  but  from  Dio3  that  we  derive 
the  elaborate  and  probably  no  more  than  traditional  ver- 
sion of  the  words  used  by  Cicero  in  the  senatorial  peace 
parley  of  March  17,  when  a  hollow  truce  was  proclaimed 
between  the  regicides  and  the  Caesarians.  After  assuring 
them  that  there  was  no  mandate  of  military  power  to  con- 
trol their  deliberations,  no  restraint  upon  the  freedom  of 
action  or  debate,  the  orator  appealed  to  all  factions  to  put 
aside  feuds  and  bickerings,  knowing  as  they  must  the  curse 
of  such  divisions.  Then,  after  a  review  of  Roman  polit- 
ical history,  in  which  he  spoke  of  Saturninus,  Glaucia,  the 
Gracchi,  of  Marius  and  Sulla,  of  Sertorius  and  Pompey, 
he  made  emphatic  reference  to  the  Athenian  settlement, 
the  act  of  amnesty  of  Thrasybulus,  after  the  fall  of  the 
Thirty  Tyrants,  in  403  B.C.,4  through  which  Athens  won 
back  prestige  and  power  abroad  and  reestablished  peace 
and  order  at  home.  They  should  decide  at  once,  he  said, 
because  signs  of  a  fresh  conflict  were  already  visible. 

Caesar  is  slain.  The  Capitol  is  occupied  by  the  optimates,  the 
Forum  by  soldiers,  and  the  people  are  full  of  terror.  Is  violence  to 
be  again  answered  by  more  violence?  These  many  years  we  have 
lived  less  like  men  than  like  wild  beasts  in  cycles  of  warring 
revenge.  Let  us  forget  the  past.  Let  us  draw  a  veil  over  all  that 
has  been  done,  not  looking  too  curiously  into  the  acts  of  any  man. 
Much  may  be  said  to  show  that  Caesar  deserved  his  death,  and 
much  against  those  who  have  killed  him.  But  to  raise  the  question 
will  breed  fresh  quarrels;  and  if  we  are  wise  we  shall  regard  the 
scene  we  have  witnessed  as  a  convulsion  of  nature  now  at  an  end. 
Let  Caesar's  ordinances,  let  Caesar's  appointments  be  maintained. 
None  such  must  be  heard  of  again.  But  what  is  done  cannot  be 
undone.6 

s  xliv,  pp.  23  sqq. 

4  Xenophon,  Hell.,  ii,  4,  43. 

5  Froude's  abridgment  of  Dio,  who  gives  no  more  than  the  traditional 
version.  —  Caes.,  pp.  423-29. 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY  273 

The  conspirators,  who  were  then  invited  to  come  down  Futile  at- 
from  their  stronghold  on  the  Capitol,  refused  to  do  so  SSJSJJ8" 
until  Antony  and  Lepidus  each  sent  a  son  to  them  to  be 
held  as  hostages  for  their  security.  As  an  evidence  that  a 
real  reconciliation  had  been  effected,  a  dinner  was  given 
that  night  to  Cassius  by  Antony,  and  to  Brutus  by 
Lepidus. 

It  was  probably  on  March  18  that  Antony,  whose  genius  Caesar's 
for  oratory  was  inherited  from  a  famous  father,  con-   ductedby"1" 
ducted  the  public  funeral  of  the  regent,  whose  body  was  Antony, 
brought  from  his  palace,  where  it  had  been  lying  since  the 
evening  of  the  assassination,   down  to  the  Forum  and 
placed  upon  the  Rostra6  with  the  blood-soaked  toga  still 
wrapped  about  it.     As  a  part  of  the  stage  setting  a  wax  Wax  effigy 
effigy  of  the  murdered  Caesar  was  raised  and  turned  in  tjJe^unds 
all  directions  by  a  mechanical  device  in  such  a  way  that 
the  people  could   see   for  themselves   the   twenty-three 
wounds  inflicted  on  the  body  as  well  as  on  the  face  of 
the  unvengeful  hero  who  had  done   so   much   for  his 
country.7 

First  the  will  was  read  in  which  it  was  provided  not  Reading 
only  that  his  gardens  on  the  Tiber  should  be  held  as  a  per-   of  the 
petual  pleasure  ground  for  all  Romans,  but  that  each 
citizen  should  receive  a  personal  legacy  of  seventy-five 
drachmas.     Next  it  transpired  that  after  Octavius,8  as  a 
second  heir,  he  had  actually  named  Decimus  Brutus,  one 
of  those  who  had  betrayed  him.    Then  it  was  that  Antony   The 
came  forward  to  speak  of  Caesar's  ancestry,  his  personal   Panesync- 
traits,  his  generosity  as  a  friend,  his  forbearance  as  an 

8  According  to  the  Roman  archaeologist  Boni,  the  remains  of  it  have 
been  recently  discovered.  See  Vaglieri,  Gli  scavi  recenti  nel  Foro  Romano, 
Rome,  1903,  pp.  i52ff. 

TApp.,  ii,  147. 

8  In  a  codicil  Caesar  had  adopted  Octavius  as  his  son.  —  Suet.,  Caes.,  83; 
Veil.,  ii,  59;  Liv.,  Per.,  116;  Dio,  xliv,  35. 


274 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


enemy,  and  above  all  of  his  services  to  the  state,  of  his 
campaigns  in  Spain,  Gaul,  Britain,  Asia,  Egypt,  and 
Armenia.  He  had  labored  for  peace  with  Pompey,  An- 
tony said,  but  Pompey  preferred  to  go  into  Greece  in 
order  to  array  the  powers  of  the  East  against  his  country, 
perishing  in  an  attempt  so  unworthy.  And  yet  Caesar 
took  no  revenge.  He  praised  and  rewarded  those  who 
had  been  faithful  to  Pompey,  and  treated  his  murderers 
as  they  deserved.  To  use  Dio's  words,  there  was  in  him 
an  inbred  goodness"  {I^vttj  xPr}<TT°TV's)  ;  he  was  never- 
carried  away  by  anger,  never  spoilt  by  success. 

To  you  he  was  consul ;  to  the  army,  imperator ;  to  the  enemies  of 
his  country,  dictator.  In  a  word  he  was  Pater  Patriae.  And  this 
your  father,  your  Pontifex,  this  hero,  whose  person  was  declared 
inviolable,  lies  dead  —  not  by  disease  or  age,  not  by  war  or  visita- 
tion of  God,  but  here  at  home,  by  conspiracy  within  your  own 
walls,  slain  in  the  Senate-house,  the  warrior  unarmed,  the  peace- 
maker naked  to  his  foes,  the  righteous  judge  in  the  seat  of 
judgment.8* 


Declaration 
of  war 
against  the 
regicides. 


This  carefully  prepared  declaration  of  war  against  the 
regicides  from  one  who  had,  for  a  moment,  dissembled, 
proved  to  be  the  turning-point  of  the  crisis.  Such  a  storm 
of  passion  was  aroused  that  after  the  body  had  been 
burned  on  the  Forum,  amid  a  frenzy  of  tributes  that 
amounted  to  a  popular  ovation,  the  unhappy  Helvius 
Cinna,  one  of  the  tribunes  whose  name  was  mistaken  for 
that  of  the  praetor  Cinna,  who  had  spoken  in  a  scornful 
way  of  the  memory  of  Caesar,  was  seized  by  the  mob  and 
Their  houses  torn  to  pieces  on  the  spot.  The  houses  of  the  principal 
conspirators  were  then  given  to  the  flames.9  It  was  no 
longer  a  matter  of  doubt  which  side  the  populace  would 
take;  they  believed,  according  to  Suetonius,  that  the  dead 

8a  Dio,  xliv,  48.  °  App.,  B.  C,  ii,  147. 


burned. 


THE  D  UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  WITH  AN  TONY  275 

Caesar  was  a  god  who  had  returned  to  heaven  where  his 
star  had  been  seen  ascending.10 

In  such  an  atmosphere  it  was  impossible  for  the  con- 
spirators to  live;  paralyzed  with  fear,  they  thought  only 
of    flight.     Such  of  them   as   Marcus  Brutus,   Decimus    Leaders        , 
Brutus,  Cassius,  Cimber,  and  Trebonius  slipped  away  to    ^way. 
the  provinces  the  regent  had  assigned  them,  while  the  rest 
sought  shelter  in  the  shadows  of  their  friends.  With  their 
subsequent  histories  we  are  not  directly  concerned.    What 
remains  to  be  said  will  be  confined  to  the  duel  to  the  death 
between  Cicero  and  Mark  Antony.     After  the  latter,  by 
his  consummate  art  and  eloquence,  had  driven  from  Rome 
those  who  had  planned  and  executed  the  assassination  of 
Caesar,  but  one  real  gladiator  remained  in  the  arena,  a   Cicero  the 
gladiator  who  resolved  to  defend  alone  the  fallen  Repub-  a^^^1 
lie  in  its  death  agony  and  to  go  down  with  it  into  the   Republic, 
grave,  as  the  last  and  noblest  champion  of  Roman  free- 
dom.    Cicero  drew  a  perfect  picture  of  himself  when,  in 
the  Third  Philippic,  he  said: 

And  now  (may  the  immortal  gods  avert  the  omen!)  if  the  last 
hour  of  the  Republic  has  arrived,  let  us,  the  foremost  men  of  all 
the  world,  resolve  like  brave  gladiators  to  perish  with  honor.  Let 
us  prefer  to  fall  with  dignity  rather  than  live  on  like  slaves  in 
ignominy.11 

During  the  five  months  and  more  that  intervened  be- 
tween the  death  of  Caesar  and  the  meeting  in  September 
of  the  Senate  in  which  the  great  orator  pronounced  the 
First  Philippic,  Antony,  senior  consul  and  official  head  of 
the  state  and  army,  did  his  utmost  to  draw  into  his  own 
hands  every  resource,   financial,   political,   and  military, 

10  "In  deorum  numerum  relatus  est  non  ore  modo  decernentium  sed  per- 
suasione  vulgi." 

11  III  Phil.,  14. 


276 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Acts  done  in 
the  name 
of  the  dead 
Caesar. 


Antony's  ap- 
peal to  Cicero 
in  behalf  of 
Sextius 
Clodius. 


which  the  regent  had  possessed  as  such.  Not  content 
with  seizing  the  public  funds  deposited  in  the  Regia  and 
temple  of  Ops,  and  all  the  papers  of  Caesar  in  possession 
of  Calpurnia,  he  invented  a  convenient  device  through 
which  he  forced  the  new  divinity  to  issue  edicts  and  other 
documents  even  after  death.  By  securing  the  cooperation 
of  the  late  secretary  Faberius12  he  was  able  to  issue  a 
variety  of  forged  edicts  and  orders,  and  to  sell  appoint- 
ments, franchises,  and  titles  in  the  nature  of  testamentary 
papers,  declaring  that  he  had  found  them  in  the  regent's 
archives.  Edicts  of  which  no  one  had  ever  heard  were 
engraved  on  brass  tablets  and  hung  up  in  the  usual  way  on 
the  Capitol,  thus  tempting  Cicero  to  declare  that  Antony 
was  able  to  do  more  in  the  name  of  Caesar  dead  than 
Caesar  himself  could  or  would  have  done  if  alive: 
"Though  the  king  is  slain,  we  pay  respect  to  every  nod  of 
his  majesty." 

Antony,  who  left  Rome  in  April,  not  returning  until 
after  May  15,  asked  of  Cicero  in  the  interval  to  consent 
to  the  restoration  of  Sextius  Clodius,  of  whom  he  was  now 
the  stepfather,  from  an  exile  that  had  lasted  already  eight 
years,  claiming  even  in  this  case  to  act  in  accordance  with 
a  memorandum  found  among  Caesar's  papers.  In  reply 
the  orator  said: 

Of  course  my  dear  Antony,  I  give  you  my  free  consent,  besides 
acknowledging  that  by  expressing  yourself  as  you  have  done  you 
have  treated  me  with  the  utmost  liberality  and  courtesy.13 

Allusion  was  no  doubt  made  to  that  part  of  Antony's 
letter  in  which  he  had  said: 

Although  your  fortunes,  my  dear  Cicero,  are  now,  I  feel  assured, 
removed  from  every  danger,  nevertheless  I  think  you  would  prefer 


12  App.,  iii,  s ;  Ad  Alt.,  xiv,  12,  i. 


*•  Ibid.,  xiv,  13. 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY 


277 


spending  a  peaceful  and  honored  old  age  rather  than  one  full  of 
anxiety.  Finally,  I  claim  a  right  to  ask  this  favor  of  you  myself; 
for  I  have  omitted  nothing  that  I  could  do  for  your  sake.1* 

In  estimating  Cicero's  subsequent  struggles  and  sacri- 
fices for  the  Republic,  resulting  in  his  death,  it  should 
never  for  a  moment  be  forgotten  that  if  he  had  been  will- 
ing to  sacrifice  his  convictions  to  his  interests,  the  "peace- 
ful and  honored  old  age"  thus  assured  him  would  have 
been  beyond  all  question.  Not  until  after  Antony  had 
thrown  off  the  mask  behind  which,  for  a  time,  he  dis- 
sembled, intimating  that  he  would  act  as  a  patriot,  and 
heal  the  innermost  wounds  from  which  the  Republic  was 
dying,  did  Cicero  arouse  himself  to  a  course  of  patriotic 
conduct  that  exceeded  in  unselfish  devotion  even  the  great 
part  he  had  played  in  crushing  the  conspiracy  of  Catiline. 
On  June  7  he  went  by  sea  to  Antium  for  a  notable  polit- 
ical conference  with  Brutus  (the  first  meeting  since  the 
evening  of  the  ides),  who  was  attended  by  his  mother 
Servilia,  and  his  wife  Portia,  and  also  by  Tertulla,  the 
wife  of  Cassius  and  sister  of  Brutus,  by  Favonius,  and 
other  friends.15  While  they  were  discussing  the  best 
course  to  adopt,  Cassius  himself  arrived;  and  after  an 
utter  want  of  plan  had  been  disclosed,  it  was  resolved  that 
Brutus  should  use  a  commission  he  had  to  purchase  grain 
in  Asia  as  a  pretext  for  leaving  Italy;  Cassius,  who 
scorned  to  go  to  Sicily  in  that  capacity,  resolving  to  cross 
over  to  Achaea.  Just  before  sailing  for  Greece  in  July, 
Cicero  wrote  to  Atticus: 

I  am  leaving  peace  to  return  to  war;  and  the  season  which 
might  have  been  spent  in  my  favorite  country  places  —  so  beauti- 
fully built  and  so  full  of  charm  —  I  am  to  waste  on  a  tour  abroad. 
The  consolations  are  that  I  shall  either  do  my  son  good,  or  make 
™Ad  Att.,  xiv,  13.  15  Ibid.,  xv,  10. 


He  could 
have  secured 
a  "peaceful 
and  honored 
old  age." 


Meeting  with 
Brutus  at 
Antium. 


Cicero  tails 
for  Greece. 


278 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Plant 
changed  by 
news  from 
Antony. 


His  unique 
position. 


The 

Ciceronians. 


up  my  mind  how  much  good  he  is  capable  of  receiving.  In  the 
next  place  you  will,  as  I  hope  and  as  you  promise,  soon  be  there. 
If  that  happens  things  will  go  better  with  me.16 

But  the  winds  and  the  waves  were  against  him;  never 
more  was  he  to  leave  his  beloved  Italy.  While  he  was 
waiting  for  a  favorable  breeze  at  the  villa  near  Rhe- 
gium,17  all  his  plans  were  changed  by  news  brought  by 
friends  announcing  Antony's  purpose  to  call  a  meeting  of 
the  Senate  for  September  1,  appearing  as  if  he  were 
anxious  to  effect  a  reconciliation  with  Brutus  and  Cassius. 
A  copy  of  a  speech  recently  made  by  the  consul  to  the 
people  was  then  handed  to  Cicero,  of  a  temper  so  pleas- 
ing that  he  resolved  to  return  to  Rome,  where  he  arrived 
on  the  last  day  of  August.  Plutarch  tells  us  that  as  he 
approached  the  city  multitudes  flocked  out  to  meet  him, 
and  that  the  whole  day  was  spent  in  receiving  the  com- 
pliments and  congratulations  of  his  friends  as  he  passed 
along  towards  his  great  house  on  the  Palatine. 

His  position  at  this  juncture  was  at  once  unique  and 
imposing.  Nearly  all  of  the  great  actors  contemporary 
with  him  had  passed  from  the  stage,  many  of  them  to 
bloody  graves.  His  commanding  intellect  and  reputa- 
tion qualified  him  in  a  peculiar  way  for  the  unofficial 
leadership  the  Roman  Senate  and  people  were  soon  to 
thrust  upon  him.  As  the  life  and  soul  of  the  opposition 
to  Antony  he  was  to  become  the  spokesman  of  those  who 
called  themselves,  as  Appian  tells  us,  the  Ciceronians  — 
those  who  still  clung  to  the  traditions  of  the  Republic 

16  Ad  Alt.,  xvi,  3. 

17  Afterwards,  in  describing  these  experiences,  he  said:  "Enraged  at  the 
position  of  affairs,  and  despairing  of  freedom,  I  was  on  the  point  of  hurry- 
ing off  to  Greece,  when  the  Etesian  winds,  like  loyal  citizens,  refused  to 
further  me  in  my  desertion  of  the  Republic,  and  a  south  wind,  blowing  in 
my  teeth,  carried  me  back  by  his  strong  blast  to  your  fellow-tribesmen  of 
Rhegium."  —  Ad  Fam.,  xii,  25. 


I 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY 


279 


and  to  the  principles  of  the  ancient  constitution.18  The 
Roman  mob  and  the  veterans  who  attended  Caesar's 
funeral,  driving  the  regicides  from  the  city,  may  have 
represented  the  largest  but  not  the  only  element  in  the 
population.  Public  opinion  among  the  Romans  of  Italy 
never  wavered  in  its  devotion  to  the  republican  cause 
until  put  down  by  armed  force.  About  the  middle  of 
April  Cicero  writes: 

In  the  country  towns  they  are  jumping  for  joy.    In  fact  I  can-   Feeling  in 
not  describe  to  you  how  rejoiced  they  are,  how  they  flock  to  see  me,    the  country 
how  eager  they  are  to  hear  me  speak  on  the  state  of  the  Republic.19 

After  Dolabella,  the  colleague  of  Antony  in  the  con- 
sulship, had  ordered  a  pillar  to  be  thrown  down,  which 
had  been  erected  in  the  Forum  to  the  memory  of  Caesar 
on  the  spot  where  his  body  was  burnt,  and  had  executed 
the  ringleaders  of  a  riot  that  ensued,  Cicero  on  May  1 
wrote : 

My  admirable  Dolabella!  For  now  I  call  him  mine.  Before 
this,  believe  me,  I  had  my  secret  doubts.  It  is  indeed  a  notable 
achievement  —  execution  from  the  rock,  on  the  cross,  removal  of 
the  column,  the  contract  given  out  for  paving  the  whole  spot.20 

Some  months  later  he  wrote : 

Though  the  Senate  is  courageous,  it  is  the  lowest  in  rank  that 
are  most  so.  Nothing,  indeed,  can  be  firmer  or  better  than  the 
temper  shown  by  the  people  and  by  the  whole  of  Italy.21 

Cicero  was  met  at  Rome  by  the  news  that  Antony  Antony 
had  thrown  off  the  mask  and  had  ceased  to  dissemble;   [h^nTaslc 

18  "Cicero  was  a  conservative  republican,  belonging  to  the  middle  class; 
a  lawyer  by  temperament  as  well  as  by  profession,  and  as  passionate  a 
constitutionalist  as  Burke."  —  Herbert  Paul,  Men  and  Letters,  p.  344. 

19AdAtt.,xiv,  6. 

20  Ibid.,  xiv,  15.  In  the  absence  of  Antony  (II  Phil.,  42)  Dolabella 
had  pulled  down  the  memorial  column  (I  Phil.,  2),  crucified  those  of  the 
rioters  who  were  slaves,  and  hurled  from  the  Tarpeian  rock  some  who 
were  free. 

21  Ad  Fam.,  xii,  4.. 


"My  ad- 
mirable 
Dolabella. 


28o 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Threatens 
Cicero. 


First 
Philippic. 


that  he  had  announced  his  purpose  to  propose  in  full 
Senate  a  public  thanksgiving  in  honor  of  Caesar's  memory. 
Feeling  that  he  could  not,  without  the  grossest  hypocrisy, 
support  a  motion  by  which  the  dead  regent  would  be 
almost  deified;  and  being  unwilling  to  be  forced  into  a 
position  that  would  make  him  odious  to  the  veterans,  the 
orator  simply  absented  himself  upon  the  ground  that  he 
had  not  recovered  from  the  exhaustion  incident  to  his 
rapid  journey.  Whereupon  Antony  became  so  enraged 
as  to  declare  in  the  Senate,  after  intimating  that  Cicero 
was  planning  an  attempt  upon  his  life  and  was  slandering 
and  insulting  him,  that  if  he  did  not  appear  he  would  use 
all  his  consular  powers  to  bring  him  by  force,  and  that  if 
he  resisted  he  would  even  send  soldiers  and  smiths  to 
break  down  the  doors  of  his  house.22 

While  smarting  under  that  bitter  insult,  the  orator  did 
attend  the  next  day,  September  2,  and  delivered  the  first 
of  the  fourteen  immortal  orations  against  Antony,  called 
originally,  as  they  should  have  been,  Antonian  Orations 
(Orationes  Antonianae),  a  little  afterwards  changed  by 
the  orator  himself  to  Philippics,  half  in  jest  and  half  seri- 
ously, in  memory  of  the  orations  of  Demosthenes  against 
Philip.23  Juvenal,  who  wrote  within  a  century  of  Cicero's 
time,  called  them  "divina  Philippica."  When  the  First 
Philippic  is  contrasted  with  the  gorgeous  and  burning 
denunciation  that  followed  it  may  be  said  to  be  a  grave, 
dignified,  and  self-restrained  criticism  of  Caesar's  acts 

22 1  Phil,  5.  Ferrero  says,  "The  smiths  were  intended  to  break  down 
the  doors,  and  not  to  destroy  the  house,  as  some  historians  explain."  —  vol. 
Hi,  p.  98,  note  t- 

23  In  the  spring  of  43  B.C.,  Brutus,  referring  to  Philippics  V  and  x,  wrote 
to  Cicero:  "You  are,  of  course,  waiting  for  my  praise  of  them  at  this  time 
of  day!  I  cannot  decide  whether  it  is  your  courage  or  your  genius  that  is 
the  most  admirably  displayed  in  these  pamphlets.  I  quite  agree  in  their 
having  even  the  title  of  Philippics,  by  which  you  jestingly  describe  them  in 
one  of  your  letters."  —  Epist.  ad  Brut.,  ii,  5. 


THE  D  UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  WITH  ANTONY  281 

and  Antony's  policy,  without  being  a  declaration  of  war. 
It  was  firm  but  conciliatory;  it  urged  peace,  and  offered 
compromise.  And  yet  he  had  said  enough  against  the 
consul  to  settle  the  fact  that  he  left  the  Senate  his  declared 
enemy. 

The  bitter  Ciceronian  gibes,  especially  those  relating 
to  the  forged  documents,  so  incensed  Antony  that  he 
retired  for  two  weeks  to  the  villa  of  Metellus  Scipio  at 
Tibur,  the  modern  Tivoli,  where,  with  the  aid  of  a  rhetor, 
he  formulated  his  reply  to  Cicero  which  he  delivered  in  Antonyi 
the  Senate  on  the  19th.  In  this  violent  invective,  limited  rep  y' 
in  the  main  to  the  orator's  public  life,  he  began  his  charges 
with  the  events  connected  with  the  conspiracy  of  Catiline 
and  ended  with  the  accusation  that  he  had  actually  organ- 
ized the  conspiracy  for  the  assassination  of  Caesar.24 
Not  wishing  to  give  way  to  his  anger  and  fearful  of  the 
machinations  of  Antony  and  his  veterans,  Cicero  pru- 
dently remained  away  on  that  day.  He  afterwards  de- 
clared that  if  he  had  not  taken  that  precaution,  he  would 
have  been  murdered  by  the  soldiers  on  guard  even  within 
the  walls  of  the  Senate-house. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  sudden  change  of  front 
upon  the  part  of  Antony  was  prompted  by  the  necessity 
of  fixing  more  firmly  his  leadership  of  the    Caesarians, 
who  were  inclined  to  drift  to  the  real  heir,  Octavianus, 
the  grandson  of  Caesar's  sister  Julia,  who  at  the  time 
of  his  uncle's  death  was  at  Apollonia  in  Epirus.     After   Arrival  of 
his  arrival  at  Naples  in  April  he  sought  an  interview  with 
Cicero  at  Cumae,  where  he  did  all  in  his  power  to  win   Meets  Cicero 
him  to  his  cause.     On  the  twenty-second  of  the  month   at  Cumae- 
Cicero  wrote : 

24 II  Phil.,  12 ;  Ad  Tarn.,  xii,  2.  Cicero  says  in  that  letter,  "He  accuses 
me  of  being  the  instigator  of  Caesar's  assassination,  with  no  other  motive 
than  that  of  inciting  the  veterans  against  me." 


282 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Allies  him- 
self with 
republicans 
and  appeals 
to  the 
veterans. 


Octavius  here  treats  me  with  great  respect  and  friendliness.  His 
own  people  addressed  him  as  "Caesar,"  but  Philippius  did  not,  so 
I  did  not  do  so  either.25  I  declare  that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to 
be  a  good  citizen.26  He  is  surrounded  by  such  a  number  of  people 
who  even  threaten  our  friends  with  death.  He  says  the  present 
state  of  things  is  unendurable.  But  what  do  you  think  of  it,  when 
a  boy  like  that  goes  to  Rome,  where  our  liberators  cannot  be  in 
safety?27 

When  he  did  go  to  Rome,  and  found  out  there  that 
Antony,  who  had  appropriated  his  inheritance,  was  in- 
clined to  treat  him  with  contempt,  he  proceeded  at  once 
to  ally  himself  with  the  republicans.  But  what  was  more 
ominous,  Octavian,  who  had  just  completed  his  nineteenth 
year,  prompted  his  agents  to  incite  the  legions  at  Brun- 
dusium  to  abandon  Antony,  while  he  himself  appealed  to 
Caesar's  veterans,  settled  on  their  lands  in  Campania,  to 
come  to  his  standard.  The  most  important  asset  which 
the  regent  had  left  behind  him,  from  a  political  point  of 
view,  was  represented  by  thirty-six  legions  to  whose  train- 
ing as  fighting  machines  he  had  devoted  the  best  energies 
of  his  life. 

Veteran  soldiers  were  even  more  valuable  in  the  ancient 
than  in  the  modern  world,   for  the  reason  that  it  was 
practically  impossible  to  train  short-service  men  in  the 
use  of  the  arms  employed  in  those  times,  when  a  few 
pro  essiona      professional   soldiers   could  put  to   rout  hosts   of  half- 

soldiers.  r  r 

trained  men.  In  organizing  bodies  of  mercenary  troops, 
Caesar  had  made  it  profitable  to  become  a  soldier,  and 
along  with  self-interest  and  discipline,  he  had  infused  into 
his  legions  such  personal  devotion  for  himself  that  those 

25  Having  been  adopted  in  Caesar's  will,  the  future  Augustus  was  now 
properly  Caius  Julius  Caesar  Octavianus,  the  adjective  form  of  his  original 
name. 

26  Reading  "bonum  civem  esse." 

27  Ad  Alt.,  xiv,  12. 


Value  of 


THE  D UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  WITH  ANTONY  283 

who  had  fought  and  conquered  under  him  were  not  only 
eager  to  avenge  his  death,  but  to  set  aside  the  amnesty 
granted  to  those  who  had  brought  it  about.  It  is  not 
therefore  strange  that  at  a  time  when  the  struggles  for 
the  allegiance  of  the  veteran  legions  were  the  pivots  upon 
which  every  political  movement  turned,  everybody  should 
be  inquiring  as  to  the  views  the  veterans  might  take. 
Nothing  so  vexed  the  soul  of  Cicero  as  the  necessity  for 
continually  pandering  to  the  feelings  and  interests  of  the 
veteran  troops.     In  one  of  the  Philippics  he  cries  out: 

What,  in  the  name  of  all  that  is  mischievous,  is  the  object  of    Cicero  de- 
always  opposing  the  name  of  the  veterans  to  every  good  cause  ?   n°unces  tnelr 
For  even  if  I  were  attached  to  their  virtue,  as  indeed  I  am,  still  if 
they  were  arrogant  I  should  not  be  able  to  tolerate  their  airs. 
While  we  are  endeavoring  to  break  the  bonds  of  slavery  shall  any- 
one hinder  us  by  saying  that  the  veterans  do  not  approve  of  it  ? 28 

And  yet,  sad  as  it  was,  the  fact  remained  that  after 
five  civil  wars  since  the  year  49  B.C.,  a  period  of  only  five 
years,  a  sixth  was  about  to  begin  whose  outcome  depended 
almost  entirely  upon  what  the  veteran  legions  might  ap- 
prove or  disapprove.     No  matter  what  Cicero,  Antony, 
or  Octavian  might  say,  the  event  depended  upon  what 
the  heaviest  battalions  resolved  to  do.     Thus  the  center  Center  of 
of  gravity  of  the  state  had  shifted.     Under  the  old  con-   fheltate°with 
stitution  those  who  aspired  to  supreme  political  power   the  legions, 
at  Rome  asked  it  at  the  hands  of  the  citizens  assembled 
in  the  Forum  or  Campus  Martius;  under  the  new  Caesa- 
rian  system  such  power  had  to  be  sought  in  the  camps 
of  the  veteran  legions. 

The  Senate  might  remain  as  a  Council  of  State ;  the  magistrates 
might  bear  their  old  names,  and  administer  their  old  functions. 
But  the  authority  of  the  executive  government  lay  in  the  loyalty, 

28  X  Phil.,  9. 


284 


First  strug- 
gle for  the 
military 
power. 


Antony's  par- 
tial success. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

the  morality,  and  the  patriotism  of  the  legions  to  whom  the  power 
had  been  transferred.29 

With  a  perfect  appreciation  of  the  value  of  the  legions, 
Antony,  who  had  been  prompt  to  win  Lepidus  on  the 
night  of  the  ides,  had  ordered  four  of  the  Macedonian 
legions,  the  Second,  Fourth,  Thirty-fifth,  and  Martian, 
to  cross  the  Adriatic;  and  in  that  way  Octavian  found 
them  at  Brundusium  in  October,  44  B.C.,  where  the 
first  struggle  between  the  heirs  of  Caesar  for  the  pos- 
session of  the  military  power  really  began.  In  the  hope 
of  arousing  the  Caesarians  to  enthusiasm  Antony  in- 
scribed upon  the  pedestal  of  a  statue  of  Caesar  on  the 
Rostra  the  words  parenti  optime  merito,30  and  on 
Octoberj^or  5  there  was  a  rumor  that  he  had  discovered 
assassins  in  his  house  who  admitted  that  Octavian  had 
sent  them  to  murder  him.  About  the  middle  of  the  month 
Cicero  wrote: 

In  short,  I  have  great  hopes  of  him  [Octavian].  There  is  noth- 
ing he  may  not  be  expected  to  do  for  fame  and  glory's  sake. 
Antonius,  however,  our  whilom  intimate  friend,  feels  himself  to 
be  the  object  of  such  violent  dislike,  that  though  he  caught  the 
assassins  within  his  doors  he  does  not  venture  to  make  the  fact 
public.  On  October  9  he  set  out  to  meet  the  four  Macedonian 
legions,  planning  to  win  them  over  to  his  side  by  money-bounties, 
to  lead  them  to  the  city,  and  station  them  as  fetters  on  our  necks.31 

When  Antony  appealed  to  these  legions,  even  with 
"money-bounties,"  to  follow  him,  he  was  only  able  to 
win  over  the  Second  and  Thirty-fifth;  and  after  he  had 
inflicted  a  terrible  punishment  upon  the  Martian32  and  the 
Fourth  legions  for  their  disaffection,  both  declared  for 
Octavian  after  Antony  had  returned  to  Rome.  In  order 
to  advance  his  military  plans  Antony  had  this  month  ob- 


29  Froude,  Caes.,  p.  396. 

30  Ad  Fam.,  xii,  3. 


31  Ibid.,  xii,  23. 

32  App.,  B.  C,  iii,  43 ;  III  Phil.,  4. 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY  285 

tained  from  the  people  a  law  (lex  de  permutatione  pro- 
vinciarum)33    directing    an    exchange    of    provinces    by  A  law  forth* 
which  Decimus  Brutus  was  to  be  removed  to  Macedonia    exc  angeo 

provinces. 

so  that  Antony  himself  could  take  his  command  in  Cisal- 
pine Gaul,  given  to  him  by  Caesar  and  confirmed  by  the 
Senate  after  his  death.  Once  in  possession  of  that  all- 
important  post,  and  backed  by  a  strong  military  force,  the 
consul  believed  that  he  would  have  at  his  mercy  not  only 
the  capital  but  the  wide  plains  of  the  region  now  known  as 
modern  Lombardy. 

When  Decimus  Brutus  refused  to  give  up  as  governor 
of  Cisalpine  Gaul  upon  the  ground  that  Antony's  action 
was  unconstitutional  if  not  illegal,   the  consul  collected 
all  the  forces  that  still  remained  faithful  to  him,  and  on 
November  20  left  the  city,  and  pressed  northward,  hoping 
to  surprise  and  crush  his  adversary,  whose  large  army 
consisted  mainly  of  recruits  not  to  be  relied  upon  in  the 
open  field  against  veterans.     For  that  reason,  Decimus   DecimusBru- 
awaited  the  attack  behind  the  powerful  walls  of  the  fort-  *bus Anton  ° at 
ress  of  Mutina,  where  he  was  besieged  by  Antony  until   Mutina. 
the  following  April.     There  the  last  stand  was  made 
for  the  Roman  Republic;  there  the  veteran  legions  com- 
pleted the  transfer  of  the  sovereign  power  to  the  new 
military  monarchy. 

When  Antony  abandoned  the  capital  for  the  siege  of 
Mutina,  the  two  arch  enemies  he  left  behind  him  were 
Cicero  and  Octavian.  After  the  consul's  violent  speech 
of  September  19,  Cicero  resolved  to  write  a  reply  which 
would  be  not  only  a  defense  of  himself  but  a  flame- 
wreathed  portrait  of  his  adversary.  The  Second  Philip-  Second 
pic,  which  was  intended  only  as  a  political  pamphlet  for  PhlhPPlc- 
publication,   seems   to   have  been   prepared   at  his  villa 

83  Livy,  Per. j  cxvii. 


286  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

near  Puteoli,  where  it  was* completed  at  the  end  of  Octo- 
ber, when  it  was  sent  to  Atticus  with  a  letter  saying: 

I  am  sending  you  my  speech.  As  to  whether  it  is  to  be  locked 
up  or  published,  I  leave  to  your  discretion.  But  when  shall  we  see 
the  day  when  you  shall  think  it  ought  to  be  published?34 

The  next  day  he  wrote: 

How  I  fear  your  criticism!  And  yet  why  should  I?  What 
care  I  for  a  speech  which  is  not  likely  to  see  the  light  unless  the 
Republic  is  restored  ? 35 

This  most  brilliant  and  ferocious  of  all  invectives, 
excepting  perhaps  the  denunciation  of  Midias  by  Demos- 
thenes, thus  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  publisher,  where 
it  remained  until  early  in  December.  On  November  i 
Cicero  received  an  important  letter  from  Octavian,  the 
contents  of  which  he  repeats  to  Atticus : 

Octavian  He  is  entering  upon  a  serious  undertaking.  He  has  won  over  to 
his  side  all  the  veterans  at  Casilinum  and  Calatia.  And  no  won- 
der: he  gives  a  bounty  of  500  denarii  apiece.  Clearly,  his  view  is 
a  war  with  Antony  under  his  leadership.  So  I  perceive  that  before 
many  days  are  over  we  shall  be  in  arms.  But  whom  are  we  to  fol- 
low? Consider  his  name,  his  age.36  Again,  he  demands  a  secret 
interview  with  me,  at  Capua  of  all  places !  It  is  really  quite  child- 
ish if  he  supposes  it  can  be  kept  private He  wanted  my 

advice  whether  he  should  start  for  Rome  with  an  army  of  3,000 
veterans,  or  should  hold  Capua,  and  so  intercept  Antony's  advance, 
or  should  join  the  three  Macedonian  legions  now  sailing  by  the  j 
Mare  Superum,  which  he  hopes  are  devoted  to  him.37 

34AdAtt.,xv,  13. 

35  Ibid.,  xv,  13. 

36  In  the  Monumentum  Ancyranum,  §1,  Octavian  thus  begins  the  record  < 
of  his  achievements:  "When  nineteen  years  old  [he  was  born  in  September,. 
63  B.C.]  I  collected  an  army  on  my  own  account  and  at  my  own  expense,  byf 
means  of  which  I  restored  to  liberty  the  Republic,  which  had  been  enslaved 
by  the  tyranny  of  a  faction." 

37  Ad  Att.,  xvi,  8. 


Cicero. 


THE  D UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  WITH  ANTONY  287 

Cicero  advised  him  to  go  to  Rome.  He  is  advised 

to  go  to 
For  I  think  he  will  have  not  only  the  city  mob,  but,  if  he  can    Rome. 

impress  them  with  confidence,  the  loyalists  also  on  his  side.     O 
Brutus,  where  are  you?    What  an  opportunity  you  are  losing!38 

When  Octavian  continued  his  attempt  to  draw  Cicero 
to  his  side  by  asking  for  advice  and  senatorial  initiative, 
the  orator  made  excuses,  which  he  thus  explained: 

I  cannot  trust  in  one  so  young;  I  am  in  the  dark  as  to  his  dispo- 
sition. I  am  not  willing  to  do  anything  without  your  friend  Pansa. 
I  am  afraid  of  Antony  succeeding,  and  I  do  not  like  going  far  from 
the  sea;  and  at  the  same  time  I  fear  some  great  coup  without  my 
being  there.  Varro,  for  his  part,  does  not  like  the  youth's  plan.  I 
do  not  agree  with  him.  He  has  forces  on  which  he  can  depend.  Has  forces 
He  can  count  on  Decimus  Brutus,  and  is  making  no  secret  of  his  °"J^„_„^ 
intentions.  He  is  organizing  his  men  in  companies  at  Capua ;  he  is 
paying  them  their  bounty-money.39 


can  depend. 


Desperately  resolved  to  destroy  Antony  through  a 
coalition  with  the  republicans,  headed  by  Cicero  and 
Decimus,  Octavian  wrote  daily  letters  to  the  former, 
appealing  to  him  "to  save  the  state  for  a  second  time,"  40 
and  to  the  latter  promising  to  reenforce  him  with  five 
legions.  Against  such  promises  stood  the  distrust  excited 
by  his  recent  speech  in  the  Forum  during  which  he  ex- 
tended his  hands  towards  Caesar's  statue  and  swore: 
"as  surely  as  he  hoped  he  might  be  permitted  to  attain 
to  his  father  honors,"  a  declaration  that  forced  Cicero 
to  say:  "I  would  not  even  be  saved  by  such  a  one." 

In  the  midst  of  such  conflicting  interests  and  emotions 
the  orator  moved  northward  towards  Rome,  where  at 
the  end  of  November  the  drift  was  decidedly  in  favor  of   Driftinfavor 
Octavian  and  against  Antony,  who  seemed  to  have  lost 
his  hold  there  after  his  departure  for  Mutina.     On  De- 

88  Ad  Att.,  xvi,  8.  39  Ibid.,  xvi,  9.  40  Ibid.,  xvi,  2,  6. 


of  Octavian. 


288 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Decisive 
hour  of 
Cicero's  life. 


Second 

Philippic 

published. 


ccmber  9  Cicero  went  into  the  city,  and  on  the  next  day 
the  new  tribunes  of  the  people,  one  of  them  the  regicide 
Casca,  took  up  office.  In  a  few  days  they  resolved  to 
convoke  the  senate  for  December  20,  a  conclusion  reached 
at  the  very  moment  when  a  great  sensation  was  created 
in  the  capital  by  the  news  that  Decimus  had  published  an 
edict  declaring  that  he  would  ignore  Antony  as  governor 
of  Gaul,  and  would  continue  to  hold  the  province  for  the 
Senate.41 

The  supreme  moment  had  arrived;  a  life  and  death 
struggle  with  the  bold,  able,  and  experienced  Antony 
was  at  hand;  there  was  a  chance  to  overthrow  the  Caes- 
arians  and  restore  the  Republic,  if  only  a  leader  could  be 
found  equal  to  the  emergency.  There  was  but  one  leader 
possible  and  he  was  full  of  doubts  and  fears.  There 
could  be  no  hope  of  success  without  Octavian,  who  de- 
manded the  imperium  of  a  propraetor;  and  certainly 
it  was  perilous  to  give  official  authority  to  a  young  man 
of  nineteen  bearing  Caesar's  name  and  with  Caesar's  vet- 
erans under  his  command.  Under  such  conditions  wouk 
the  conqueror  of  Catiline  undertake  to  save  the  Republic 
a  second  time? 

This  was  the  decisive  hour  of  his  life,  the  moment  of  supreme 
audacity,  of  final  self-sacrifice,  or  permanent  glory.  That  morning 
(December  20)  he  took  the  decisive  step;  at  the  age  of  sixty-two, 
more  capable  of  wielding  the  pen  than  the  sword,  the  leader  of  that 
political  world  in  which  equivocation  had  reigned  supreme  for 
eight  months,  he  plunged  into  the  vast  and  unknown  dangers  which 
barred  the  progress  of  his  generation,  with  an  audacity  which  car 
only  be  regarded  as  heroic  when  his  natural  timidity  and  the  ter- 
rible uncertainty  of  the  situation  are  remembered.42 

A  week  or  more  before,  perhaps,  Atticus  had  publishec 
the  Second  Philippic,   destined  to  become  an  unrivalec 

41  III  Phil,  4.  42  Ferrero,  vol.  iii,  p.  124. 


THE  D UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  WITH  ANTONY  289 

classic  in  all  the  rhetorical  schools  of  the  Roman  and  of 
the  modern  world  —  a  tremendous  outburst  in  which  all 
the  ferocity  of  tragedy,  all  the  power  of  pathos  united 
with  all  the  resources  of  humor  and  mirth  in  an  impeach- 
ment of  Antony,  whose  crowning  crime  was  his  attempt 
to  call  back  kings  to  Rome ! 

What  can  be  more  scandalous  than  for  that  man  to  live  who 
placed  a  diadem  on  a  man's  head,  when  everyone  confesses  that 
that  man  was  deservedly  put  to  death  who  rejected  it?  ...  . 
And  are  you  then  diligent  in  doing  honor  to  Caesar's  memory? 
Do  you  love  him  even  now  that  he  is  dead?  What  greater  honor 
had  he  obtained  than  that  of  having  a  holy  cushion,  an  image,  a 
temple,  and  a  priest?  As  then  Jupiter,  and  Mars,  and  Quirinus 
have  priests,  so  Marcus  Antonius  is  the  priest  of  the  God  Julius. 
Why  then  do  you  delay?  Why  are  you  not  inaugurated?  .... 
And  what  a  life  is  it,  day  and  night  to  be  fearing  danger  from  one's 
own  people!  Unless,  indeed,  you  have  men  who  are  bound  to  you 
by  greater  kindnesses  than  some  of  those  men  by  whom  he  was 
slain  were  bound  to  Caesar;  or  unless  there  are  points  in  which  you 
can  be  compared  with  him. 

In  that  man  were  combined  genius,  method,  memory,  literature,  Antony  con- 
prudence,  deliberation,  and  industry.  He  had  performed  exploits  trasted  wltn 
in  war  which,  though  calamitous  for  the  Republic,  were  never- 
theless mighty  deeds.  Having  for  many  years  aimed  at  being 
a  king,  he  had,  with  great  labor  and  much  personal  danger,  accom- 
plished what  he  intended.  He  had  conciliated  the  ignorant  mul- 
titude by  presents,  by  monuments,  by  largesses  of  food  and  by 
banquets;  he  had  bound  his  own  party  to  him  by  rewards,  his 
adversaries  by  the  appearances  of  clemency. 

Why  need  I  say  much  on  such  a  subject?  He  had  already 
brought  a  free  city,  partly  by  fear,  partly  by  patience,  into  a 
habit  of  slavery.  With  him  I  can,  indeed,  compare  you  as  to 
your  desire  to  reign ;  but  in  all  other  respects  you  are  in  no  degree 
to  be  compared  to  him Consider,  I  beg  you,  Marcus  An- 
tonius, do  some  time  or  other  consider  the  Republic:  think  of  the 
family  of  which  you  are  born,  not  of  the  men  with  whom  you  are 
living.     Be  reconciled  to  the  Republic.     However,  do  you  decide 


290  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

on  your  own  conduct.  As  to  mine,  I  myself  will  declare  what 
that  shall  be.  I  defended  the  Republic  as  a  young  man;  I  will 
not  abandon  it  now  that  I  am  old.  I  scorned  the  sword  of 
Catiline,  I  will  not  quail  before  yours.  No,  I  will  rather  cheer- 
fully expose  my  own  person,  if  the  liberty  of  the  city  can  be 
restored  by  my  death.43 

Third  Of  a  widely  different  character  was  the  Third  Philip- 

1  ippic"  pic,  delivered  in  the  Senate  on  December  20,  after  Cicero 
had  answered  the  question  of  questions  by  his  resolve  to 
accept  the  leadership  and  to  risk  everything  in  the  effort 
to  save  the  Republic  a  second  time.  It  was  a  calm,  wise 
speech,  demanding  neither  peace  nor  war  as  necessary 
alternatives.  It  was  an  appeal  to  the  Senate  to  commend 
Brutus  for  his  edict,  Octavian,  "a  youth,  nay,  almost  a 
boy,"  for  his  public  services  in  the  enlistments,  the  two 
revolted  legions  for  their  action.  At  the  close  he  pro- 
posed that  there  should  be  a  repudiation  of  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  provinces  as  made  by  Antony  on  November 
20,  and  that  the  governors  then  in  office  should  be  per- 
mitted to  remain  until  successors  could  be  appointed. 

After  delivering  his  speech  in  the  Senate,  Cicero  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Forum,  where  he  communicated  his  pro- 
Fourth  posals  to  the  people  by  a  contio,  known  as  the  Fourth 
1  ippic#        Philippic,  in  which  he  said  that  "the  Senate  has  no  longer 
been  content  with  styling  Antonius  an  enemy  in  words, 
but  it  has  shown  by  actions  that  it  considers  him  one."1! 
Thus  the  new  head  of  the  senatorial  government  put 
beyond  all  question  the  fact  that  Antony  was  no  longer) 
a  Roman  consul  but  a  public  enemy. 
Ambassadors       After  the   new  consuls,   Hirtius   and   Pansa,   had  01M 
January,7'       January  1  of  the  year  43  B.C.,  delivered  their  speeches^ 
43  b.c.  Fufius  Calenus  asserted  that  Antony  did  not  desire  war, 

"II  Phil.,  usqq. 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY  291 

moving  at  the  same  time  that  ambassadors  be  sent  to  open 
peace  negotiations  with  one  who  had  now  lost  his  official 
character.  Servius  Sulpicius  and  Publius  Servilius  then 
followed,  proposing  that  Octavian  should  be  given  the 
command  of  an  army  with  the  rank  of  propraetor,  and 
that  he  should  be  eligible  for  offices  as  if  he  had  held 
already  the  quaestorship. 

Realizing  that  the  republican  cause  could  only  be  ad- 
vanced by  revolutionary  methods,  Cicero  met  the  situa- 
tion thus  presented  by  the  furious  assault  upon  Antony 
contained  in  the  Fifth  Philippic,  attacking  both  his  public   Fifth 
administration  and  his  private  life,   and  pointing  it  all       l  Ippic" 
with  the  intimation  that  his  ulterior  object  was  to  capture 
Transalpine  Gaul  so  as  to  be  able  to  return  with  suffi- 
cient forces  to  enable  him  to  seize  the  capital.    He  there- 
fore urged  that  a  tumultus  and  state  of  siege  should  be 
proclaimed,  and  that  a  golden  statue  should  be  dedicated 
to  Lepidus  in  recognition  of  his  republican  opinions.    The 
next  day  the  debate  was  resumed.     Octavian  was  to  be 
admitted  to  the  Senate  among  the  senators  of  consular 
rank,  and  he  might  apply  for  the  consulship  ten  years 
before   the  legal  time.44      In  pledging  himself  for  the 
youth's  loyalty  Cicero  said:  "I  do  promise,  and  pledge   Cicero 
myself,  and  undertake  that  Caius  Caesar  will  always  be   KJJJw!? 
such  a  citizen  as  he  is  this  day,  and  as  we  ought  above  all   loyalty, 
things  to  wish  and  desire  that  he  should  be." 

The  issue  was  now  peace  or  war,  and  the  few  declared 
friends  of  Antony  in  the  Senate  even  went  so  far  as  to 
send  the  ex-consul's  aged  mother  and  Fulvia  from  house  to 
house  hoping  to  restrain  those  senators  who  were  hesi- 
tating,45 Cicero  making  another  speech  on  the  third  of  the 

44  Mon.  Anc,  i,  3-5;  App.,  B.  C,  iii,  51 ;  Livy,  Per.,  cxviii. 

45  App.,  B.  C,  iii,  51,  54. 


292  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

month  in  the  hope  of  bringing  the  waverers  to  his  views. 

Acompro-       Finally,  on  the  4th,  after  a  speech  from  Piso,  a  compro- 
mise reached.        •  111  •  •  i_  «  •    .-      «   .    .  • 

mise  was  reached  under  which  it  was  agreed  that  bulpicius, 
as  the  representative  of  the  republicans,  Piso  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Caesarians,  and  Philippus,  the  stepfather 
of  Octavian,  should  be  sent  as  ambassadors,  not  to  treat 
for  peace,  but  to  command  Antony  to  return  from  Cisal- 
pine Gaul  to  Italy,  it  being  stipulated  that  a  tumultus 
would  be  proclaimed  if  he  disobeyed.  In  the  meantime 
one  of  the  consuls  would  take  the  supreme  command  and 
lead  to  Gaul  the  forces  Octavian  had  already  prepared  at 
Arretium.  On  the  same  day,  before  an  immense  assembly 
on  the  Forum,  Cicero,  in  a  discourse  known  as  the  Sixth 
Sixth  Philippic,  gave  an  account  of  all  that  had  been  done,  con- 

1  Ippic'        eluding  with  this  declaration: 

Matters  are  now  at  a  crisis.  We  are  fighting  for  our  freedom. 
Either  you  must  conquer;  which  indeed  you  will  do  if  you  con- 
tinue to  act  with  such  piety  and  unanimity,  or  you  must  do  any- 
thing rather  than  become  slaves.  Other  nations  can  endure 
slavery ;  liberty  is  the  inalienable  heritage  of  the  Roman  people. 

At  this  critical  moment  of  waiting,  which  may  be  con- 
sidered the  prologue  to  the  civil  war  soon  to  begin  in  the 
valley  of  the  Po,  Cicero  became,  in  fact,  if  not  in  law, 
the  head  of  the  senatorial  government  of  the  Republic. 
In  the  words  of  a  very  clear  thinker: 

The  magistrate  might,  without  any  dereliction  of  duty,  con- 
fine himself  to  naming  the  subject  which  the  Senate  was  to  dis- 
cuss; it  was  open  to  the  private  senators  to  make  any  motion  on 
the  subject  in  hand,  and  this  motion,  if  approved  by  a  majority 
Cicero  prime  of  voices,  became  a  binding  instruction  to  the  executive.  Thus 
minister  of  Cicero,  though  without  any  formal  office,  took  the  responsibility 
of  the  initiative  and  shaped  the  policy  of  the  Republic.  He  was, 
in  fact,  prime  minister  of  Rome.46 

45a  vi  Phil.,  6.  46  Strachan-Davidson,  Cicero,  p.  406. 


THE  D UEL  TO  THE  DEA TH  WITH  ANTONY  293 

As  such  he  was  forced  to  discharge  the  duties  of  many 
of  the  missing  officers  of  state,  to  read  many  letters,  to 
make  many  speeches,  and  above  all  to  breathe  into  the 
weak  and  wavering  a  fiery  enthusiasm  and  force  such  as 
he  had  scarcely  possessed  in  his  earlier  years. 

After  the  great  speeches  of  December  20  and  January  I,  the 
audacious  figure  of  the  old  orator  stood  out  amidst  the  universal 
vacillation  like  a  huge  erratic  boulder  in  the  midst  of  a  plain. 
He  was  requested  upon  every  side  to  unmask  dangers  and  to 
advise  upon  precautions,  and  was  himself  obliged  to  intervene 
in  public  business  to  secure  the  execution  of  his  decrees,  which 
otherwise  would  have  been  dead  letters.47 

Before  the  return  of  the  ambassadors,  and  while  parti- 
zans  of  Antony  in  the  city,  with  Calenus  at  their  head, 
were  striving  to  win  friends  by  representing  him  as  eager 
for  an  accommodation,  in  a  meeting  of  the  Senate  con- 
voked by  Pansa  for  the  dispatch  of  matters  of  routine, 
Cicero  abruptly  warned  them  that  there  was  more  impor- 
tant business  to  be  disposed  of.  In  the  Seventh  Philippic,  Seventh 
then  delivered  in  the  second  half  of  January,  the  orator  *  ipplc' 
spoke  as  the  leader  upon  whom  the  burden  rested,  saying: 

On  no  condition  will  I  make  peace  with  Antony.     If  we  can-   No  peace 

not  live  in  freedom  let  us  die What  hope  then  is  there   Wltn  Antony- 

that  there  ever  can  be  peace  between  the  Roman  people  and  the 
men  who  are  besieging  Mutina  and  attacking  a  general  and  army 
of  the  Roman  people?48 

After  the  return  of  the  ambassadors  early  in  February, 
Pansa  immediately  convoked  the  Senate  to  receive  their 
report,  stating  that  Antony  would  neither  yield  to  the 
demands  of  the  Senate  nor  permit  them  to  transmit  its 
discussions  to  Decimus  Brutus.  His  principal  counter 
demands  (which  they  had  no  right  to  bring)   were  that 

47  Ferrero,  vol.  iii,  pp.  129-30.  48  VII  Phil.,  8. 


294 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Eighth 
Philippic. 


Ninth 

Philippic,  fu- 
neral honors 
to  Sulpicius. 


he  should  retain  Transalpine  Gaul  with  six  legions;  that 
his  acts  and  those  of  Dolabella  were  not  to  be  annulled; 
that  his  troops  were  to  receive  lands;  and  that  there 
should  be  no  account  required  of  him  of  the  money  taken 
from  the  temple  of  Ops.  After  Cicero  had  stated  his 
opinion  that  as  Antony  had  refused  to  obey  the  Senate 
he  should  be  declared  hostis,  Calenus,  backed  by  Pansa, 
who  was  constantly  supporting  the  Caesarians,  carried 
through  a  milder  measure.  On  the  next  day  when  the  Sen- 
ate met  to  put  its  resolves  into  definite  form,  Cicero  deliv- 
ered the  Eighth  Philippic  as  a  protest  against  the  irreso- 
lution of  the  day  before.  As  the  inflexible  leader,  who 
stood  alone  with  a  whole-hearted  desire  for  war,  he  said: 

What  a  responsibility  it  is  to  support  worthily  the  character  of 
a  chief  of  the  Roman  commonwealth ;  those  who  bear  it  should 
shrink  from  offending  not  only  the  minds  but  the  eyes  of  their 
fellow-citizens.  When  they  receive  the  envoy  of  our  enemies  at 
their  houses,  admit  him  to  their  chambers,  even  draw  him  apart 
in  conversation,  I  say  that  they  think  too  little  of  their  dignity, 
too  much  of  their  danger.49 

In  conclusion  he  said: 

I  give  my  vote,  that  of  those  men  who  are  with  Marcus  An- 
tonius,  those  who  abandon  his  army,  and  come  over  either  to 
Caius  Pansa  or  Aulus  Hirtius  the  consuls;  or  to  Decimus  Brutus, 
imperator  and  consul  elect;  or  to  Caius  Caesar,  propraetor,  before 
the  fifteenth  of  March  next,  shall  not  be  liable  to  prosecution  for 
having  been  with  Antonius.50 

So  effective  was  this  ardent  speech,  whose  main  pur- 
pose was  to  discredit  Antony's  champion,  Calenus,  that 
the  proposal  was  passed.  Probably  on  the  same  day  was 
delivered  the  Ninth  Philippic,  devoted  to  the  particular 
kind  of  funeral  honors  to  be  paid  to  the  great  jurist, 
Servius  Sulpicius,  one  of  the  ambassadors,  who  being  in 

«  VIII  Phil.,  10.  ^°Ibid.,ti. 


THE  D UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  WITH  ANTONY  295 

ill  health  had  died  by  reason  of  his  journey  to  the  camp 
of  Antony.  Supporting  Pansa's  contention  that  the 
cause  of  his  death  and  not  the  nature  of  it  was  the  true 
criterion,  Cicero  pleaded  for  a  small  funeral  monument 
at  the  expense  of  the  state,  and  an  equestrian  statue  in 
the  Forum  such  as  was  customary  in  honor  of  ambassa- 
dors who  were  actually  killed  in  the  service  of  their 
embassy.  In  speaking  of  this  cherished  friend  of  his 
earlier  years,  who  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  being  not 
only  the  first  lawyer  of  his  time,  but  the  first  of  all  who 
ever  studied  law  as  a  profession  at  Rome,51  he  said: 

Restore  then,  O  conscript  fathers,  life  to  him  from  whom  you 
have  taken  it.  For  the  life  of  the  dead  consists  in  the  tender 
recollection  of  them  by  the  living.  Take  ye  care  that  he,  whom 
you,  without  intending  it,  sent  to  his  death,  shall  from  you  receive 
immortality.52 

The  scene  now  shifts  suddenly  from  Cisalpine  Gaul  to 
Macedonia,  from  Decimus  Brutus  to  Marcus  Brutus,  MarcusBru- 
who  in  the  preceding  autumn  of  44  B.C.,  had  arrived  at 
Athens  where,  like  any  private  individual,  he  began  to 
attend  lectures  on  Greek  philosophy,  along  with  a  group 
of  young  Roman  students,53  among  whom  were  Cicero's 
son  Marcus,  Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  and  a  young  man  by 
the  name  of  Flaccus,  whose  father  was  an  intelligent  and 
wealthy  freedman.     When  these  young  men,   who  ex- 

51  As  to  his  works,  see  Pompon.,  1.  c,  43,  44.  His  pupil  was  Aulus  Ofilius, 
often  called  the  Tribonian  of  the  Republic,  who  is  supposed  to  have  been 
consulted  by  Julius  Caesar  as  to  his  great  but  unrealized  plan  for  a  codifica- 
tion of  Roman  law.  On  that  subject,  see  Sanio,  Rechtshistorische  Abhandl.  u. 
Studien  (Konigsberg,  1845),  pp.  68-126. 

B2  IX  Phil.,  5. 

53  Plut.,  Brut.,  24.  Cicero,  speaking  of  the  departure  of  Brutus,  said: 
"I  saw  him  depart  from  Italy  in  order  not  to  cause  a  civil  war  there.  O, 
sorrowful  spectacle,  I  do  not  say  for  man  only,  but  for  the  waves  and  the 
shores!  The  savior  of  his  country  was  forced  to  flee;  its  destroyers 
remained  all-powerful."  —  X  Phil.,  4. 


tus  in  Greece. 


296 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Collects  a 
small  army 
and  wins 
successes. 


Asks  the 
Senate  to 
approve  his 
action. 


tended  a  most  cordial  welcome  to  the  regicide,  learned 
that  Trebonius,  also  one  of  the  regicides,  was  sending 
sixteen) thousand  talents  (about  £320,000)  to  Rome  from 
his  rich  province  of  Asia;  and  that  the  official  in  charge 
of  this  tribute  would  touch  at  Greece,  they  persuaded 
Brutus  to  induce  the  envoy  to  hand  over  the  money  so 
that  it  might  be  used  in  the  interests  of  the  republicans 
against  the  Caesarians. 

Thus  in  possession  of  the  sinews  of  war  a  small  army 
was  rapidly  collected  under  the  command  of  Brutus,  who 
in  December,  44  B.C.,  surrounded  by  a  band  of  young 
admirers  including  Horace,54  went  to  Thessalonica,  where 
Hortensius,  the  governor  of  Macedonia,  who  was  with- 
out troops,  recognized  him  as  his  successor.  Encouraged 
by  such  success,  Brutus  by  a  forced  march  reached  the 
shores  of  the  Adriatic  about  January  20, 55  with  the  pur- 
pose of  overcoming  Vatinius,  a  Caesarian,  who  was  gov- 
ernor of  Illyria.  After  accomplishing,  through  a  series 
of  happy  accidents,  that  undertaking,  Brutus  sent  letters 
to  Rome  asking  the  Senate  to  approve  his  actions.56  When 
like  a  bolt  from  the  blue  they  arrived  at  the  capital  about 
the  middle  of  February,  Pansa  hurriedly  convoked  the 
Senate  for  the  next  day. 

In  the  midst  of  the  excitement  caused  by  news  that 

54  Horace  was  in  the  army  of  Brutus  the  greater  part  of  two  years 
(43-42  B.C.),  and  in  that  way  had  the  opportunity  to  visit  Thessaly,  Mace- 
donia, and  Thrace,  and  many  famous  cities  in  Asia  Minor  mentioned  in 
his  poems  in  a  way  that  implies  personal  acquaintance.  He  remained  with 
Brutus  to  the  end,  participating  in  the  victory  and  subsequent  rout  at 
Philippi.  Returning  to  Rome,  he  found  his  father  dead  and  his  estate  swept 
away  in  the  confiscation  of  the  territory  of  Venusia.  He  had,  however, 
saved  money  enough  from  his  two  campaigns  to  enable  him  to  purchase  a 
clerkship  in  the  quaestor's  office.  Thus  poor  in  purse  and  still  poorer  in 
favor,  he  began  life  again  at  the  age  of  twenty-three.  See  article  by 
Clement  Laurence  Smith  in  The  Lyric  Poems  of  Horace,  vol.  i,  pp.  34-35- 

55  Gauter,  Neue  Jahrb.  fur.  Phil,  u.  Pad.,  1895,  pp.  62off. 

56  X  Phil.,  6;  Liv.,  Per.,  118;  Dio,  xlvii,  21;  Plut,  Brut.,  26;  Ferrero, 
vol.  iii,  pp.  135  sqq. 


Brutus.     National  Museum,  Florence. 


THE  D  UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  WITH  ANTONY  297 

lifted  the  hopes  of  the  republicans  and  depressed  those 
of  the  friends  of  Antony,  the  latter  did  all  in  their  power 
to  prevent  an  approval  by  the  Senate  of  Brutus'  conduct. 
Calenus  said  that  favorable  action  in  that  direction  would 
no  doubt  entirely  alienate  the  sympathies  of  the  veterans. 
Then  it  was  that  Cicero  delivered  the  Tenth  Philippic  as  Tenth 
an  emphatic  indorsement  of  the  revolution  brought  about  ' lppic* 
by  Brutus,  with  the  aid  of  his  own  son  Marcus,  who  had 
quitted  his  studies  at  Athens  and  taken  the  field  inde- 
pendently, receiving  the  surrender  of  a  legion  commanded 
by  L.  Piso  —  certainly  a  triumph  for  the  senatorial  gov- 
ernment at  Rome  of  which  the  orator  was  the  head  I 
Can  we  wonder  when  he  exclaims : 

The  Roman  people  there  are  now  in  possession  of  Macedonia, 
and  Illyricum,  and  Greece.  The  legions  there  are  all  devoted  to 
us,  the  light-armed  troops  are  ours,  and,  above  all,  Brutus  is  ours, 
and  always  will  be  ours  —  a  man  born  for  the  Republic,  both  by 
his  own  most  excellent  virtues,  and  also  by  some  special  destiny 
of  name  and  family,  both  on  his  father's  and  on  his  mother's  side.57 

He  concluded  by  moving  that  the  Senate  approve  the 
military  acts  of  Brutus  in  Macedon  and  Illyricum,  con- 
firm his  future  acts,  and  legalize  his  appropriation  of 
public  funds  and  supplies,  admonishing  him  at  the  same 
time  to  remain  as  near  Italy  as  possible. 

Here  reference  must  be  made  to  the  terrible  fate  of 
Trebonius,  whose  confiscated  tribute  made  Brutus'  revo- 
lutionary coup  possible.     In  the  first  days  of  March,  43 
B.C.,  news  arrived  that  Dolabella,  who  had  left  Rome   Terrible  fate 
before  the  expiration  of  his  consulship  to  take  possession   at  the  hands 
of  Syria,  which  Antony  had  contrived  to  have  allotted  to   of  Dolabella. 
him,  had  entered  Asia  with  a  legion  and  a  body  of  cav- 
alry, had  treacherously  seized  Trebonius  at  Smyrna,  and 

«  X  Phil,  6. 


298  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

had  put  him  to  death  after  subjecting  him  to  the  extremes 
of  torture  in  the  hope  of  forcing  him  to  disclose  the 
whereabouts  of  the  money.58 

Calenus,  in  order  to  shield  Antony  in  the  midst  of  the 
storm  of  indignation  excited  by  the  dreadful  act,  made 
a  fierce  attack  upon  Dolabella,  asserting  his  willingness 
to  declare  him  a  public  enemy  and  proposing  at  the  same 
time  to  entrust  to  the  two  consuls,  after  they  had  relieved 
Mutina,  the  conduct  of  military  operations  against  him.59 
As  a  counter-proposition  Cicero  suggested  that  such  oper- 
ations should  be  entrusted  to  Cassius,  together  with  the 
proconsulship  of  Syria;  and  upon  that  subject  he  pro- 
Eleventh  nounced  the  Eleventh  Philippic  in  which  the  crime  of 
1  ipp,c'  Dolabella,  as  the  apt  pupil  of  Antony,  is  painted  with  all 
the  lurid  color  a  master  of  the  human  passions  could 
impart  to  it. 

You  see  now  an  image  of  the  cruelty  of  Marcus  Antonius  in 
Dolabella;  this  conduct  of  his  is  formed  on  the  model  of  the 
other.  It  is  by  him  that  the  lessons  of  wickedness  have  been 
taught  to  Dolabella.  Do  you  think  that  Antonius,  if  he  had 
the  power,  would  be  more  merciful  to  Italy  than  Dolabella  has 
proved  in  Asia?  To  me,  indeed,  this  latter  appears  to  have  gone 
as  far  as  the  insanity  of  a  savage  man  could  go;  nor  do  I  believe 
that  Antonius  either  would  omit  any  description  of  punishment, 
if  he  had  the  power  to  inflict  it.60 

In  the  meantime  the  siege  of  Mutina  languished;  and 
in  the  midst  of  the  general  hesitation  the  Senate  resolve( 
A  fresh  em-     in  March  to  send  a  fresh  embassy  to  Antony  composed  oi 
bassytoAn-     £ye  members  fr0m  all  parties,  including  Cicero  himself/ 

tonyproposed  r  ° 

in  March.        a  move  supplemented  by  an  obsequious  letter  from  Hir- 

58  Dio,  xlvii,  29;  Livy,  Epit.,  119;  XI  Phil,  2;  App.,  B.  C,  Hi,  26. 
5»  Ibid.,  9. 

60  Ibid.,  3. 

61  Ibid.,  1.  Cicero's  colleagues  were  to  be  P.  Servilius,  Fufius  Calenus, 
L.  Piso,  and  L.  Caesar. 


THE  D  UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  WITH  ANTONY  299 

tius    and    Octavian.      Antony's     counterblast     to     such 

weakness  was  an  insulting  reply  to  the  two  last  named  of  His  insulting 

remarkable  literary  merit,  in  which,  after  eulogizing  the   rep  y" 

assassination  of  Trebonius,  he  declared  that  he  would 

remain  faithful  to  Dolabella,  whom  he  praised  for  his 

desire  to  punish  Caesar's  murderers,  defended,  he  said, 

by   Hirtius    and   Octavian,    as    members    of    the    party 

that  wished  to  rob  the  veterans  of  their  reward.     After 

expressing  his  willingness  to  receive  the  ambassadors  if 

they  came,  he  added  that  he  did  not  think  their  arrival 

probable. 

Before  Antony's  letter  was  received  at  Rome  on  March 
18  to  19,  the  embassy  had  in  fact  been  annulled;  and 
Cicero  and  his  supporters  realized  that  they  had  been 
duped62  when  it  became  evident  that  the  real  object  of 
Antony's  friends  in  proposing  it  was  to  gain  time  for 
Ventidius  to  join  him  at  the  head  of  three  veteran  legions.  Twelfth 
In  the  Twelfth  Philippic,  delivered  at  the  next  meeting  l  ippic' 
of  the  Senate  Cicero,  in  the  midst  of  whispers  of  treachery, 
cried  out, 

We  have  been  deceived  —  we  have,  I  say,  been  deceived,  O  con- 
script fathers!  It  is  the  cause  of  Antonius  that  has  been  pleaded 
by  his  friends,  and  not  the  cause  of  the  public.  And  I  did  indeed 
see  that,  though  through  a  sort  of  mist;  the  safety  of  Decimus 
Brutus  had  dazzled  my  eyesight.63 

The  time  for  action  had  now  arrived;  with  the  return 
of  fine  weather  the  siege  of  Mutina  was  approaching  a    Siege  of 
crisis.     Early  in  January  Hirtius  had  joined  Octavian,    proacWii?" 
and  some  weeks  later  the  two  had  advanced  as  far  as   a  crisis. 
Bononia  —  Forum  Gallorum  lying  midway  between  that 
point  and  Mutina.     Shortly  after  March  19,  the  other 
consul,   Pansa,  moved  northward  at  the  head  of  four 

62  XII  Phil.,  7.  63  Ibid.,  2. 


300 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero's 
effort  to  se- 
cure Lepidus 
and  Plancus. 


Thirteenth 
Philippic. 


new  legions,  which,  added  to  the  three  ordered  from 
Africa,  the  three  of  Octavian  and  the  four  of  Decimus, 
made  fourteen  now  on  foot  which  had  been  newly  re- 
cruited or  reenlisted  within  a  few  months,  an  effort  that 
compelled  Pansa  to  employ  all  the  armorers  he  could  find 
at  Rome.64  At  such  a  moment  Cicero  did  all  in  his  power 
to  secure  the  support  of  Lepidus,  governor  of  Northern 
Spain  and  Southern  Gaul,  and  of  Plancus,  governor  of 
Northern  Gaul,  whose  armies  might  have  a  decisive  influ- 
ence in  deciding  the  conflict.  When  their  attitude  and 
that  of  their  generals  was  still  in  doubt,  he  wrote  to 
Lepidus : 

I  am  glad  to  hear  that  you  profess  yourself  desirous  of  pro- 
moting peace  between  citizens.  If  you  connect  that  peace  with 
liberty,  you  will  do  good  service  to  the  state  and  to  your  own 
reputation.  But  if  your  peace  is  to  restore  a  traitor  to  the  pos- 
session of  an  unbridled  tyranny,  then  let  me  tell  you  that  all  true 
men  have  made  up  their  minds  to  accept  death  rather  than 
servitude.65 

To  Plancus  he  wrote: 

You  recommend  peace  while  your  colleague  is  besieged  by  a 
gang  of  rebels.  If  they  want  peace,  they  should  lay  down  their 
arms  and  beg  for  it;  if  they  demand  it  by  force  of  arms,  then  we 
must  win  our  way  to  peace  through  victory,  not  through 
negotiation.66 

On  March  20,  after  letters  had  been  read  to  the  Senate 
from  Lepidus  and  Plancus,  betraying  an  anxiety  to  avoid 
a  decision,  Cicero,  fearing  their  effect,  made  the  furious 
and  eloquent  appeal  for  war  embodied  in  the  Thirteenth 
Philippic,  pronounced  in  the  last  free  Senate  in  the  history 
of  Rome. 

From  the  beginning  of  this  war  which  we  have  undertaken 
against  those  impious  and  wicked  citizens,  I  have  been  afraid  lest 

04  VII  Phil,  4.  C5  Ad  Fam.,  x,  27.  Mlbid.,  x,  6. 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY  301 

the  insidious  proposals  of  peace  might  dampen  our  zeal  for  the 
recovery  of  our  liberty.67 

And  then,  in  order  to  emphasize  that  contention,  the 
orator  read,  paragraph  by  paragraph,  with  drastic  com- 
ments of  his  own,  a  letter  received  by  Hirtius  and  Octa- 
vian  from  Antony  insidiously  designed  to  seduce  them 
from  their  allegiance: 

I  have  read  you  this  letter,  O  conscript  fathers,  not  because  I 
thought  it  worth  reading,  but  in  order  to  let  you  see  all  his  par- 
ricidal treasons  revealed  by  his  own  confessions.68 

In  concluding  Cicero  moved  a  formal  commendation  Tribute  to 

of  Sextius  Pompey,  who —  Pompey. 

....  has  acted  as  might  have  been  expected  from  the  affection 
and  zeal  of  his  father  and  forefathers  towards  the  Republic,  and 
from  his  own  previous  virtue  and  industry,  and  loyal  principles 
in  promising  to  the  Senate  and  the  people  of  Rome  his  own  assist- 
ance and  that  of  the  men  whom  he  had  with  him.69 

The  doubt  and  anxiety  that  clouded  the  public  mind 
down  to  the  end  of  March  and  the  beginning  of  April 
was  relieved  somewhat  when  on  the  7th  of  the  month 
last  named  further  letters  from  Plancus  to  the  magistrates 
and  Senate  were  read  in  which  he  said: 

I  required  a  considerable  time,  heavy  labors,  and  great  expense  Further 
in  order  finally  to  make  good  my  promises  to  the  Republic  and  letters  from 
all  loyal  citizens,  and  in  order  not  to  approach  the  task  of  aiding 
my  country  with  no  equipment  except  good  intentions,  but  with 
the  requisite  resources.  I  had  to  secure  the  loyalty  of  my  army, 
which  had  been  often  tampered  with  by  the  offer  of  great  bounties, 
and  to  persuade  it  to  look  to  the  state  for  moderate  rewards,  rather 

than  to  a  single  person  for  unlimited  ones I  saw  from 

what  had  befallen  my  colleague  the  danger  of  a  premature  reve- 
lation of  intentions  by  a  loyal  but  unprepared  citizen.70 

67  XIII  Phil.,  1.  69  Hid.,  21. 

68  Ibid.,  10  sqq.  70  Ad  Fam.,  x,  8. 


302 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Antony's  dis- 
comfiture at 
Forum 
Gallorum. 


Death  of 
Pansa. 


Cicero's  glo- 
rious day. 


Fourteenth 
Philippic. 


Finally,  on  April  14  or  15,  the  opposing  armies  near 
Mutina  met  at  Castelfranco,  then  known  as  Forum  Gal- 
lorum, where  Antony,  confident  of  the  support  of  Lepidus 
and  of  his  position  as  Caesar's  avenger,  had  taken  the 
offensive.  After  a  fierce  engagement,  in  which  he  was 
at  the  outset  successful,  Antony  was  finally  so  far  over- 
come by  the  forces  of  the  consuls  and  Octavian  as  to  be 
compelled  to  retire  during  the  night  to  his  camp  before 
Mutina.  During  the  battle  Pansa  received  a  wound  of 
which  he  died  about  a  week  later.71 

After  a  false  rumor,  current  at  Rome  about  the  17th 
or  1 8th,  to  the  effect  that  the  senatorial  army  had  been 
annihilated,  was  dispelled  by  dispatches  from  Hirtius, 
telling  of  Antony's  discomfiture,  a  great  popular  demon- 
stration took  place,  multitudes  flocking  to  Cicero's  house 
on  the  Palatine.  The  enthusiastic  citizens  escorted  him 
to  the  capitol  and  down  on  the  Rostra  and  forced  him 
to  make  a  speech  received  with  great  applause.  On  that 
glorious  day  he  wrote  to  Marcus  Brutus: 

I  have  no  vanity  in  me  —  and  indeed  I  ought  to  have  none;  yet 
after  all  a  unanimous  feeling  of  all  orders,  thanks,  and  congratu- 
lations do  move  my  heart,  because  it  is  a  thing  to  be  proud  of  that 
in  the  hour  of  the  people's  preservation  I  should  be  the  people's 
hero  (popularis).72  But  I  prefer  for  you  to  hear  these  things 
from  others. 

Such  was  the  prelude  to  the  Fourteenth  Philippic,  the 
last  oration  ever  published  by  Cicero,  delivered  in  the 
Senate  on  April  21,  where  he  demanded  that  a  supplica- 
tion of  forty  days  should  be  decreed;  that  a  monument 
should  be  erected  to  the  fallen,  "who  had  conquered  in 
their  death,"  and  that  the  bounties  promised  to  the  sena- 
torial army  should  be  paid  to  the  kindred  of  the  slain. 

71  The  news  of  his  death  reached  Rome  on  the  26th. 

72  Epist.  ad  Brut.,  i,  3. 


THE  D  UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  WITH  ANTONY  303 

Refusing  to  be  carried  away  by  the  transport  of  the  hour, 
he  said  that  it  would  certainly  be  premature  to  accept 
the  suggestion  of  Servilius  that  the  citizens  should  relin- 
quish the  sagum,  or  robe  of  war;  he  considered  it  far 
more  important  for  the  Senate  to  declare  Antony  a  public 
enemy  (hostis)  which,  strangely  enough,  had  not  yet  been 
done. 

From  the  first  of  January  to  this  hour  [he  said]  I  have  never 
ceased  watching  over  the  Republic;  that  day  and  night  my  house 
and  my  ears  have  been  open  to  the  instruction  and  admonition  of 
everyone;  that  it  has  been  by  my  letters,  and  my  messages  and 
my  exhortations,  that  all  men  in  every  part  of  the  Empire  have 
been  aroused  to  the  protection  of  our  country;  that  it  is  owing  to 
the  open  declaration  of  my  opinion  ever  since  the  first  of  January, 
that  no  ambassadors  have  been  sent  to  Antonius;  that  I  have 
always  called  him  a  public  enemy,  and  this  a  war;  so  that  I,  who 
on  every  occasion  have  been  the  adviser  of  genuine  peace,  have 
been  a  determined  enemy  to  the  pretense  of  fatal  peace.73 

Then  moved,  no  doubt,  by  the  spirit  of  the  funeral  ora- 
tion delivered  by  Pericles  in  memory  of  those  who  had 
fallen  in  the  Peloponnesian  war,  he  said: 

I,  therefore,  give  my  vote,  O  conscript  fathers,  that  the  most 
noble  monument  possible  be  erected  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Martian  Tribute  to 
legion,  and  to  those  soldiers  also  who  died  fighting  by  their  side,  the  Martian 
Great  and  incredible  are  the  services  rendered  by  that  legion  to 
the  Republic.  That  was  the  first  legion  to  tear  itself  from  the 
piratical  band  of  Antonius;  that  was  the  legion  which  encamped 
at  Alba ;  that  was  the  legion  that  went  over  to  Caesar ;  and  it  was 
in  imitation  of  the  conduct  of  that  legion  that  the  fourth  has 
earned  almost  equal  glory  for  its  bravery.  The  fourth  is  victori- 
ous without  having  lost  a  man;  some  of  the  Martian  legion  fell 
in  the  very  moment  of  victory.  O  happy  death,  which,  due  to 
nature,  has  been  paid,  rather  as  a  debt  due  to  your  country!  But 
I  consider  you  men  born  for  your  country;  you  whose  very  name 
is  derived  from  Mars,  so  that  the  same  deity  who  begot  this  city 
W  XIV  Phil,  7. 


304 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


the  bravest 
from  the 
ranks." 


for  the  benefit  of  the  nations,  appears  to  have  begotten  you  for 
the  benefit  of  this  city.  Death  in  flight  from  the  battle-field  is 
Mars  "selects  disgraceful,  but  glorious  in  victory,  for  Mars  himself  usually 
selects  the  bravest  from  the  ranks.  Those  impious  wretches  ye 
slew  will  pay  the  penalty  of  their  parricide  in  the  realms  below, 
while  you  who  breathed  out  your  latest  breath  in  victory  have 
gained  the  dwelling-place  and  home  of  the  blessed.  Brief  is  the 
span  of  life  given  us  by  nature;  but  the  memory  of  a  life  nobly 
spent  is  immortal.  And  if  indeed  it  were  no  longer  than  this 
life  of  ours,  who  would  be  so  foolish  as  to  face  the  extremity  of 
toil  and  danger  in  order  to  win  the  highest  glory  and  renown? 
It  is  well  then,  soldiers,  with  you  —  the  bravest  of  the  brave  while 
you  lived,  but  now  sanctified  by  death.  For  your  merit  car 
never  be  unsepulchered,  either  by  the  oblivion  of  those  who  now 
exist,  or  the  silence  of  posterity,  since  the  Senate  and  Roman 
people  have  raised  to  you,  almost  with  their  own  hands,  an 
imperishable  monument.74 


Second  and 
last  battle  of 
Mutina. 


At  the  very  moment  Cicero  was  pronouncing  this  last 
Philippic,  really  the  funeral  oration  of  the  Roman  Repub- 
lic, its  armies  were  fighting  the  second  and  last  battle  of' 
Mutina  75  in  which  Antony  suffered  so  severely  that,  dur-i 
ing  the  night  of  April  21,  while  ignorant  of  the  death  of 
Hirtius,  he  resolved  to  abandon  the  siege  and  to  fall  back, 
upon  Lepidus  in  Gallia  Nabonensis.  After  the  death  of 
Pansa,  who  died  of  his  wounds  in  the  night  of  the  2  2d  I 
and  23d,76  Decimus  Brutus,  one  of  the  slayers  of  Caesar,, 
and  Octavian,  his  adopted  son,  were  the  surviving  com-- 
manders  of  the  victorious  senatorial  army;  and  as  sucI$J 
they  were  expected,  of  course,  to  inflict  upon  the  fleeing] 
Antony  the  fate  of  Catiline.77 

The  news  of  the  battle  reached  Rome,  in  a  very  exaj 

"  XIV  Phil,  12. 

75  App.,  iii,  71.    For  the  best  account  of  the  second  battle,  see  Schmidt,' 
Neue  Jahrb.  fiir  Phil.  u.  Pad.,  1892,  pp.  323ft. 

76  Ad  Fam.,  xi,  13. 

77  Episl.  ad  Brut.,  i,  3. 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY 


305 


gerated  form  apparently  on  April  25  ;  and  on  the  next  day 
the  Senate  met  and  proscribed  Antony  and  his  followers  Antony  and 
upon  the  assumption  that  his  career  was  at  an  end.78  For 
a  moment  it  did  seem  as  if  Cicero's  struggles  and  sacri- 
fices had  not  been  in  vain;  it  did  seem  as  if  the  Republic 
had  been  saved ;  it  did  seem  as  if  his  duel  to  the  death  with 


his  followers 
proscribed. 


Temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  in  which  Cicero  Delivered  His 
Last  Philippic 

Antony  had  ended  at  last  with  the  chief  promoter  of  the 

new  monarchical  system  prostrate  in  the  dust.     But  never 

in  all  history  was  the  semblance  of  victory  such  a  complete    Semblance  of 

illusion.    The  great  lover  of  liberty  had  wooed  the  God-   JJSli*11 

dess  and  had  clasped  a  cloud.     When  he  seemed  to  have 

all  within  his  grasp,  she  whispered: 

Our  revels  now  are  ended.     These  our  actors, 
As  I  foretold  you,  were  all  spirits,  and 
Are  melted  into  air,  into  thin  air; 
And,  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  this  vision, 
78  Lange,  R.  A.,  vol.  iii,  p.  524. 


306 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Antony  con- 
verted defeat 
into  victory. 


The  cloud-capp'd  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces, 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself, 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve 
And,  like  this  insubstantial  pageant  faded, 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind.79 

With  consummate  art  Antony,  always  greatest  in  mo- 
ments of  supreme  peril,  converted  defeat  into  victory  by 
winning  to  the  Caesarian  cause  the  generals  in  command 
of  the  veteran  legions  who  had  no  idea  of  sacrificing  them- 
selves or  destroying  each  other  for  the  benefit  of  the  Sen- 
ate at  Rome.  They  were  beginning  to  understand  that 
the  new  monarchical  system  founded  by  Caesar  in  the 
Mediterranean  world,  rested  upon  the  assumption  that 
those  who  controlled  the  mercenaries  could  control  not 
only  the  provincial  governments  but  affairs  at  Rome.  It 
is  not  therefore  strange  that  the  orator  should  have  writ- 
ten at  this  time  to  Marcus  Brutus: 

For  we  are  flouted,  Brutus,  both  by  the  airs  assumed  by  the 
soldiers  and  the  arrogance  of  their  commanders.  Each  man  claims 
to  be  powerful  in  the  Republic  in  proportion  to  his  physical 
force.80 

Cicero  foreshadowed  all  that  was  to  happen  when  in 
the  Tenth  Philippic  he  said: 

Finally  let  me  speak   one   true   word,   one  word   worthy  of* 
myself.     If  the  resolutions  of  this  House  are  to  be  governed  by 
the  nod  of  the  veterans,  if  all  of  our  deeds  and  words  are  to  be 
fashioned   at   their  will,   it  is  better  to  wish   for  death,   which 
Romans  have  always  preferred  to  servitude.81 

Antony,  with  four  legions  and  the  cavalry,  hastened  by 
a  forced  march  across  the  Maritime  Alps  to  appeal  to 

Antony  wini  r  *  1 

Lepidus.         Lepidus,  whose  army  was  composed  of  seven  of  Caesar  s 

79  The  Tempest,  Act  iv,  sc.  i.         80  Epist.  ad  Brut.,  i,  10.         81  X  Phil,  \ 


Political 
power  the 
fruit  of  phys- 
ical force. 


THE  D UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  Wl TH  ANTONY  307 

old  legions,82  and  the  appeal  was  not  in  vain.  After  the 
deed  was  done,  Lepidus  on  May  30  wrote  a  brief  letter 
to  the  Senate  in  which  he  said: 

I  beg  of  you  to  consult  for  the  highest  interests  of  the  Republic, 
and  not  to  regard  the  compassionate  feelings  of  myself  and  my 
army  in  the  light  of  crime.83 

Antony  and  Lepidus,  now  at  the  head  of  fourteen 
legions,  jointly  undertook  to  reorganize  the  great  Cae- 
sarian army  in  the  West,  first  by  winning  over  Plancus  and 
Pollio,  next  by  effecting  a  reconciliation  with  Octavian,  a 
task  Lepidus  himself  assumed  early  in  July,  just  at  the 
moment  when  Caesar's  heir  was  breaking  with  the  sena- 
torial government  which  had  denied  him  the  consulship. 
Emboldened  by  the  prospect  of  an  agreement  with  An- 
tony and  Lepidus,  Octavian  resolved  upon  a  coup  d'etat  octavian's 
which  involved  an  expedition  against  Rome  itself,  whither  ""*  d'etat- 
he  had  sent  his  emissaries  to  reassure  the  masses  as  to  his 
intentions  and  to  urge  them  to  revolt.  He  crossed  the 
Rubicon  early  in  August 84  with  eight  legions,  and  upon  his 
arrival  the  African  and  Sardinian  legions  came  over  to  his 
standard,  the  populace  followed,  the  city  surrendered,  the 
senatorial  party  fled,  and  on  the  19th,  Octavian  and  his 
kinsman  Pedius  were  elected  consuls,85  after  the  necessary 
formalities  had  been  hurried  through. 

By  appropriate  action  of  the  comitia  curiata  Octavian's 
adoption  was  ratified,  and  the  lex  Pedia  de  interfectoribus  Lexpediade 
Caesaris86  passed,  subjecting  the  assassins  of  Caesar  and  Ej2«ISi 
their  accomplices  to  the  jurisdiction  of  a  special  court,  no 
exceptions  being  made  in  favor  of  the  tribune  Casca,  nor 

82  Stationed  at  Forum  Voconii,  twenty-four  miles  away. — AdFam.,-x.,ij. 

83  Ad  Fam.,  x,  35. 

84  App.,  in,  88. 

85  Dio,  xlvi,  45-45 ;  App.,  iii,  92-94. 
8eLivy,  120;  Dio,  xlvi,  47-48;  App.,  iii,  95. 


308 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


of  Marcus  Brutus,  then  fighting  against  the  Bessi,  nor  of 
Decimus  Brutus  who,  with  Plancus,  was  about  to  attack 
Antony,  nor  of  Sextus  Pompeius  who  had  accepted  the 
extraordinary  powers  his  father  had  exercised  in  the  war 
against  the  pirates.87 

The  panic-stricken  Senate,  in  which  Cicero  did  not 
appear,  granted  everything,  including  the  donations  de- 
manded by  Octavian  of  five  thousand  drachmas  ($900) 
for  each  veteran,  amounting  for  the  eight  legions  to  about 
$7,700,000  —  a  sum,  of  course,  not  available.  Caesar's 
heir  had  been  greeted  by  great  and  small,  including  his 
mother  and  sister  who  had  been  sheltered  in  the  house  of 
the  Vestals.  The  Caesarian  army,  which  preserved  per- 
fect discipline,  was  thus  in  possession  of  Rome  and  Italy, 
with  Octavian  at  the  head  of  eleven  legions,  controlling  at 
the  same  time  Gallia  Narbonensis  with  the  fourteen 
legions  of  Antony  and  Lepidus.  In  the  presence  of  such 
a  menace  the  wavering  Pollio  resolved  to  come  over, 
dividing,  during  September,  his  three  legions  between 
Lepidus  and  Antony.88 

The  Caesarian  combination  that  now  controlled 
twenty-eight  legions  had  yet  to  overcome  the  two  armies 
of  Decimus  Brutus  and  Plancus,  numbering  only  fifteen 
legions  between  them.  The  break  soon  came  when  Plan- 
cus—  more  than  ever  willing  to  abandon  Decimus  since 
he  had  passed  under  the  ban  of  the  lex  Pedia  —  resolved 
to  follow  the  example  of  Pollio  —  three  of  his  legions 
passing  to  Antony  and  two  to  Lepidus.  Thus  deserted  by 
Plancus,  in  the  midst  of  what  has  been  well  described  as 
Fate  of  Deci-  a  kind  of  Caesarian  mania,  Decimus,  while  attempting  by 
an  overland  march  with  his  army  to  reach  Macedonia, 


Caesarian 
army  in  pos- 
session of 
Rome  and 
Italy. 


mus  Brutus. 


87  Plut,  Brut.,  27;  Dio,  xlvi,  48-49. 

88  App.,  iii,  97.  Cf.  Ferrero,  vol.  iii,  pp.  172  sqq. 


THE  D  UEL  TO  THE  DEA  TH  WITH  ANTONY  309 

was  captured  in  the  Alps  by  a  barbarian  chief  who 
executed  him  under  orders  from  Antony,  unmoved 
by  the  fact  that  he  had  saved  his  life  during  the 
conspiracy.89 

With  the  entire  Caesarian  army  of  the  West  in  posses- 
sion of  Italy  and  the  European  provinces,  nothing  re- 
mained but  the  reconciliation  of  Antony  and  Octavian,  a    Reconcil- 
consummation  made  urgently  necessary  by  the  fact  that   *ftlonof 
Brutus  and  Cassius  were  still  in  possession  of  the  richest   Octavian. 
part  of  the  Empire,  the  East,  with  nineteen  legions  behind 
them.    Thus  drawn  towards  each  other  by  common  inter- 
ests and  common  dangers,  the  rival  leaders  of  the  Cae- 
sarians  seem  to  have  agreed  before  they  met  to  reestab- 
lish the  regent's  dictatorship,  with  the  full  powers  he  had 
enjoyed  during  the  last  years  of  his  life,  in  such  a  way  as  The  trium- 
to  include  the  go-between,  Lepidus,  called  by  Decimus  v]nreiPub' 

°  ,  Itcae  con- 

"that  shiftiest  of  men,"90  in  the   triumviri  reipublicae  stituendae. 
constituendae. 

In  order  to  work  out  the  details  of  the  general  plan 
thus  outlined,  the  three  met  toward  the  end  of  October  on 
a  little  island  near  Bologna,  formed  by  the  confluence  of 
the  Reno  and  Lavino,  where,  with  the  two  armies  facing 
each  other  on  opposite  sides  of  the  river,  they  engaged, 
with  mutual  distrust,  in  a  conference  which  lasted  two  or 
three  days.91  We  know  only  that  the  outcome  was  the 
Second  Triumvirate;  not  a  group  of  dictators,  but  "a  com- 
mission of  three  for  settling  the  government,"  which  was 
to  continue  for  five  years  from  the  end  of  the  current  Scope  of 
year.92  Within  that  time  they  were  to  possess  criminal  thelr  P°wers- 
jurisdiction  without  right  of  appeal  or  form  of  trial,  the 

89  Dio,  xlvi,  53 ;  App.,  ii,  97-98. 

»°  Ad  Fam.,  xi,  9. 

81  App.,  iv,  2;  Plut.,  Cic,  44;  Dio,  xlvi,  55. 

92  Fasti  Colotiani  in  C.  I.  L„  p.  466. 


3io 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Dreadful 
expedient 
for  payment 
of  the  army. 


right  to  make  laws,  and  by  virtue  of  the  sovereign  power 
of  consuls  over  the  whole  state,  they  were  to  have  the 
right  to  appoint  senators  and  officials  in  Rome  and  in  the 
towns,  and  governors  of  provinces,  to  impose  taxes,  order 
levies,  and  to  strike  coins  with  their  images  and  super- 
scriptions.93 

But  over  and  above  all  such  details  stood  the  over- 
shadowing necessity  for  providing  money  with  which  to 
settle  the  vast  obligations,  assumed  in  the  midst  of  the 
struggles,  to  the  forty-three  legions,  about  two  hundred 
thousand  men,  by  whose  physical  force  existing  conditions 
had  been  brought  about.  The  problem  of  problems  was 
how  to  raise,  with  an  empty  treasury,  with  a  people 
unwilling  to  be  taxed,  and  with  the  rich  provinces  of  the 
East  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  a  sum  exceeding  eight 
hundred  millions  of  sesterces,94  equivalent  to  about  $40,- 
000,000.  But  one  expedient  seemed  possible,  and  that 
was  a  massacre  of  the  rich  and  a  confiscation  of  their 
property  through  a  proscription,  in  which  the  list  is  said 
to  have  included  two  thousand  of  the  richest  knights,  and 
a  hundred  senators,  to  which  were  added  a  few  specially 
energetic  and  able  political  opponents.95 

A  heated  controversy  seems  to  have  arisen  over  the 
selection  of  twelve  or  seventeen  victims96  who  were  to  be 
put  to  death  at  once  without  the  hope  of  pardon.  There 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  as  a  solution  Antony  gave 
up  his  mother's  brother,  Lucius  Caesar;  Lepidus,  his  own 
brother,  Aemilius  Paullus,  and  Octavian,  Cicero,  whom 
he  called  "father." 

»3Mommsen,  Rom.  St.,  vol.  iv,  pp.  449  J??.;  Herzog,  Geschichte  und 
System  der  romischen  Staatsverfassung,  1891,  vol.  ii,  p.  96;  Ferrero, 
vol.  Hi,  p.  181. 

94  App.,  iv,  31. 

^Ibid.,  5;  Plut,  Ant.,  20;  Livy,  Per.,  120;  Plut.,  Cic,  46. 

98  App.,  iv,  6. 


^SUTk 


The  Young  Augustus.    The  Vatican. 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY  311 

Less  than  six  months  intervened  between  that  glorious 
April  21  when  the  people,  after  the  arrival  of  bulletins 
announcing  victory  in  the  first  battle  of  Mutina,  escorted 
Cicero  in  triumph  to  the  Capitol  and  back  again,  and  the 
day  on  which  the  Caesarian  triumvirate  condemned  him 
unheard  to  a  traitor's  death.  During  the  interval  he  led 
with  all  the  heroism  of  despair  a  forlorn  hope  beset  by 
conditions  that  made  success  impossible.  The  nature  of 
those  conditions  revealed  themselves  in  the  moment  of 
victory  that  followed  the  second  battle  of  Mutina  when  Octavian's 
Octavian  failed  to  join  Decimus  in  the  pursuit  and  destruc-  c^cero"  Why 
tion  of  Antony.    In  a  letter  written  on  May  5  to  Cicero,   he  failed  to 

D.  .  1  join  Decimus 

ecimus  said :  iu  pursuing 

•  1  Antony. 

But  if  Caesar  had  listened  to  me  and  crossed  the  Apennines,  I 

could  have  hemmed  in  Antony  so  completely  that  he  would  have 

perished  for  lack  of  supplies;  but  I  cannot  command  Caesar,  and 

Caesar  cannot  command  his  troops.     These  are  both  very  ugly 

facts.97 

Two  weeks  later  we  have  the  explanation  of  the  diffi- 
culty, the  real  beginning  of  the  end,  in  another  letter  from 
Decimus,  from  which  it  appears  that  the  Fourth  and  the  Legions  ad- 
Martian  legions  had  refused  to  serve  under  his  orders98  JJkSJL    a 

-the  veterans  were  no  longer  willing  to  follow  the  stand-  monarchy, 
ard  of  the  regicide  who  had  aided  in  cutting  down  the  chief 
they  adored.  As  that  Caesarian  fanaticism  grew,  the 
legions,  believing  that  their  interests  would  best  be  pro- 
moted by  a  military  monarchy,  drew  together  in  a  coali- 
tion whose  primary  purpose  was  a  campaign  of  revenge 
against  those  who  had  so  cruelly  arrested  its  growth.  It 
was  that  sentiment  that  clothed  Octavian  with  power  and 
importance.     In  a  letter  to  Marcus  Brutus,  Cicero  pays 

97  Ad  Tarn.,  xi,  10. 

98  Ibid.,  xi,  19.    The  Fourth  and  the  Martian  had  joined  Octavian. 


312 


When  Octa- 
vian  deserted 
Cicero. 


Last  appeal 
to  Brutus 
and  Cassius. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

high  tribute  to  his  great  personal  power  (he  is  potentis- 
simns),  lamenting  at  the  same  time  that  — 

....  certain  persons  by  most  unprincipled  letters  and  misleading 
agents  and  messages  induced  Caesar,  up  to  that  time  wholly  gov- 
erned by  my  advice,  and  personally  possessed  of  brilliant  ability 
and  admirable  firmness  of  character,  to  entertain  a  very  confident 
hope  of  the  consulship.39 

Plutarch  was,  no  doubt,  correct  in  assuming  that  Octa- 
vian  turned  his  back,  on  Cicero  the  moment  he  refused  to 
support  him  for  the  consulship.  According  to  Suetonius 
(August  12),  he  abandoned  without  hesitation  the  sena- 
torial government  the  moment  it  refused  to  bestow  that 
office  upon  him.  It  was  then  that  the  leader  of  a  depu- 
tation of  centurions  who  had  been  sent  to  present  his 
claim,  struck  his  hand  upon  his  sword  hilt  and  said,  "If 
you  will  not  give  it,  this  shall  give  it,"  and  it  did.  After 
Octavian's  desertion  the  only  hope  that  remained  to 
Cicero  as  the  head  of  the  dying  Republic  was  centered  in 
the  return  from  the  East  of  Brutus  and  Cassius.  When 
in  June  he  felt  that  Caesar's  heir  was  slipping  away  from 
him,  he  wrote  to  the  former: 

If  the  counsels  of  the  disloyal  have  greater  weight  than  mine, 
or  if  the  weakness  of  his  time  of  life  proves  unequal  to  the  strain 
of  the  business,  our  whole  hope  is  in  you.  Wherefore  fly  hither, 
I  beseech  you,  and  put  the  last  touch  to  the  freedom  of  a  state, 
which  you  liberated  by  courage  and  high  spirit  rather  than  by  any 
fortunate  coincidence.  Men  of  all  kinds  will  crowd  around  you. 
Write  and  urge  Cassius  to  do  the  same.  Hope  of  liberty  is 
nowhere  to  be  found  except  in  the  headquarters  of  your  two 
camps.100 

In  the  very  last  letter  of  Cicero  which  is  preserved  to 
us,  written  to  Cassius  early  in  July,  he  said: 

»»  Epist.  ad  Brut.,  i,  10.  10°  Ibid.,  \,  10. 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY  313 

Assure  yourself,  therefore,  that  everything  depends  on  you  and 
Marcus  Brutus,  and  that  you  are  both  anxiously  expected,  Brutus 
momentarily.101 

But  as  they  never  returned,  the  last  spark  of  life  was 
crushed  out  of  the  Republic  by  the  Caesarian  legions  of 
the  West. 

Thus  deserted  by  all,  the  sole  surviving  defender  of  the 
ancient  constitution  was  calm  and  steadfast  when  the  time 
came  for  him  to  seal  his  devotion  with  his  blood.  Two 
means  of  escape  were  open  to  him  —  nothing  barred  the 
path  either  to  suicide  or  exile.  The  epidemic  of  self-  cicerode- 
murder  that  followed  the  performance  of  Cato,  noble  as   c  m?.   ot , 

r  '  suicide  and 

it  was  regarded  by  many,  did  not  infect  the  spirit  of  one  exile, 
who  had  a  clearer  vision  of  immortality  and  of  a  life 
beyond  the  grave  than  any  other  among  the  ancients  who 
lived  and  died  prior  to  the  Christian  dispensation.  He 
rose  above  the  popular  temptation;  he  was  too  lofty  for 
self-destruction. 

Cicero  may  have  made  many  a  grave  political  error,  but  none 
the  less,  his  historical  importance  can  compare  with  that  of  Caesar,  His  historical 
and  is  but  little  inferior  to  that  of  St.  Paul  or  St.  Augustine,  importance. 
....  Of  all  the  men  who  governed  the  Roman  world  in  that 
day,  Cicero,  alone  amid  the  frightful  political  debasement  of  his 
time,  had  not  wholly  lost  that  sense  of  good  and  evil  which  may 
not  raise  a  man  above  petty  weaknesses,  but  at  any  rate  withholds 
him  from  criminal  excesses  and  extravagance.  He  alone  attempted 
to  govern  the  world,  not  with  the  foolish  obstinacy  of  Cato,  or  with 
the  cynical  opportunism  of  others,  but  upon  a  rational  system 
based  upon  loyalty  to  republican  tradition  amid  the  prevailing 
disorder.102 

With  his  duty  done  and  his  usefulness  ended,  he  cer- 
tainly had  the  right  to  go  into  exile,  and  for  a  time  he 

101  Plut.,  Cic,  45-46.  102  Ferrero,  vol.  iii,  pp.  189-90. 


314 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Quintus 
and  his  son 
murdered 
at  Rome. 


"Let  me  die 
in  my  coun- 
try I  have 
saved  so 
often." 


contemplated  such  a  course.  When  he  heard  of  the  pro- 
scriptions he  was  at  his  Tusculan  villa  with  his  brother 
Quintus.  After  resolving  to  join  Brutus  they  proceeded 
in  litters  to  Astura  where  they  hoped  to  embark  for  Mace- 
donia. In  order  to  procure  funds  for  the  journey  Quintus 
returned  to  Rome  where  he  met  his  son  who  had  been  left 
behind.  There  it  was  that  the  sleuths  of  Antony  discov- 
ered their  hiding-place,  and  murdered  both  after  subject- 
ing the  younger  Quintus  to  frightful  tortures. 

Thus  bereft,  Cicero  embarked  alone  at  Astura,  sailing 
as  far  as  the  promontory  of  Circeii   (Capo   Circello), 
where,  in  a  fit  of  irresolution,  he  insisted  on  being  put 
ashore.    On  the  morrow,  yielding  to  the  entreaties  of  his 
devoted  slaves,  he  set  sail  again  only  to  discover  a  rough 
sea  and  contrary  winds.    Sick  and  sad  as  he  was  when  he 
reached  Caieta,  near  his  own  Formian  villa,  he  resolved  to 
go  no  farther.103    Pressed  to  continue  his  voyage,  "Let  me 
die,"  he  said,  "in  my  country  I  have  saved  so  often."  The 
story  goes104  that  ravens  settled  on  tackle  and  yardarms 
as  the  vessel  was  being  rowed  to  the  land;  and  that  aftei 
he  retired  to  his  villa  for  rest  the  ravens  flew  in  and  cawed 
and  cawed.    One,  alighting  on  his  couch,  tried  to  draw  the 
cloak  from  his  face.    Startled  by  such  an  omen,  his  slaves, 
eager  to  get  him  away  from  the  place,  partly  by  constraint, 
partly  by  entreaty,  placed  him  in  a  litter  and  moved 
towards  the  coast.    Then  it  was  that  the  slayers  who  came 
upon  their  heels,  after  a  vain  search  of  the  empty  house, 
were  told  by  a  freedman  of  Quintus,  whom  Cicero  had 
befriended,  how  to  follow  the  densely  wooded  path  by 
which  he  was  being  carried  to  the  sea.    When  overtaken, 
he  ordered  his  attendants  to  set  down  the  litter,  forbid- 

1Q3  His  return  is  attributed  by  Appian   (B.  C,  iv)  to  seasickness— ofo 
i<peperr]v  dydtav  rov  k\68wvos. 

104  App.,  iv,  19,  20;  Plut,  Cic,  47,  48. 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY 


315 


ding  them  at  the  same  time  to  defend  him.    According  to 
Plutarch: 

With  his  chin  resting  on  his  left  hand,  as  was  his  wont,  he  kept    Plutarch's 
gazing  steadfastly  on  the  slayers,  his  beard  and  hair  untrimmed    description 
and  his  face  so  worn  and  furrowed  from  cares  that  most  of  those 
who  looked  on  covered  their  faces,  and  would  not  witness  the  deed 
there  performed  by  Herennius.105 

Thus  he  calmly  received  the  stroke.    It  was  the  death 
of  Socrates  all  save  the  hemlock.     Like  a  Titan,  he  had 


Formiae,  Where  Cicero  Was  Murdered 

struggled  to  save  the  Republic  and,  like  a  protomartyr, 
[died. 

When  Antony  ordered  the  barbarian  chief  who  had   Childish  rage 
captured  Decimus  to  bring  him  his  head  he  took  away  the   °*d£2°"ja 
life  of  one  who  had  saved  his  own  during  the  conspiracy; 
but  when  he  took  from  the  military  tribune  Pompilius 
Laenas  the  head  of  Cicero,  and  the  hands  he  had  used  in 

105  It  was  December  7,  according  to  Tiro,  just  twenty-four  days  before 
the  completion  of  Cicero's  sixty-fourth  year. 


316 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero's 
lack  of  sym- 
pathy with 
Octavian. 


the  composition  of  his  speeches,106  ordering  both  to  be 
nailed  to  the  Rostra,  where  they  could  molder  in  mockery 
of  his  eloquence,  he  was  simply  executing  Roman  ven- 
geance on  one  of  the  bitterest  and  most  implacable  ene- 
mies by  whom  any  man  was  ever  opposed.  Even  when  we 
revolt  at  the  unwomanly  brutality  of  Fulvia,  who  took  the 
head  upon  her  lap,  addressing  to  it  words  of  bitter  insult 
as  if  it  were  alive,  dragging  out  the  tongue  with  feminine 
rage  and  piercing  it  with  her  bodkin,  we  should  not  forget 
that  in  those  terrible  Philippics  her  family  history  had 
been  held  up  to  merciless  ridicule,  and  her  humble  birth 
pitilessly  exposed  to  the  contempt  of  patrician  Roman 
society.  Possibly  the  highest  tributes  ever  paid  to  the 
withering  blasts  of  the  Philippics  were  embodied  in  the 
childish  and  inhuman  indignities  offered  by  Antony  and 
Fulvia  to  Cicero's  head  and  hands  after  death  had  turned 
them  into  dust. 

When,  in  the  same  spirit  of  fairness,  we  contemplate 
the  act  of  Octavian  who  handed  over  to  the  assassins  one 
whom  he  had  called  "father,"  we  should  not  forget  that 
with  the  heir  of  Caesar  Cicero  never  had  the  slightest 
sympathy.  He  was  simply  a  means  to  an  end,  a  piece  on 
the  chess  board  to  be  played  against  the  hated  Antony. 
Once  he  cried  out:  "I  would  rather  die  than  be  saved  by 
such  a  one."  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  youth  was 
mastered  and  overcome  by  the  magnetic  genius  of  the 
great  orator.  Plutarch  tells  us  that  Octavian  held  out  for 
two  days  in  his  efforts  to  save  the  life  of  Cicero;  anc 
he  adds : 

It  happened  many  years  after  that  Augustus  once  found  one 

of  his  grandsons  with  a  work  of  Cicero's  in  his  hands.    The  boy 

was  frightened  and  hid  the  book  under  his  gown ;  but  Caesar  took 

106  Giving  for  them  250,000  sesterces  ($11,000). 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY  317 

it  from  him,  and  standing  there  motionless  he  read  through  a    His  tribute  to 
great  part  of  the  book ;  then  he  gave  it  back  to  the  boy,  and  said :    Clcero- 
"This  was  a  great  orator,  my  child;  a  great  orator,  and  a  man 
who  loved  his  country  well."  107 

This  story  gains  credence  from  the  fact  that  after  the 
conclusion  of  peace  Cicero's  son  Marcus  returned  to 
Rome  where  great  honors  were  bestowed  upon  him  by  Bestowed 
Augustus  possibly  as  a  retribution  for  the  part  he  had  ^^ls^rs 
taken  in  his  father's  death.  Writing  to  Marcus  Brutus  on 
July  11,  43  B.C.,  Cicero,  in  expressing  the  wish  that  his 
son,  then  twenty-two,  should  remain  with  him  and  not 
return  to  Rome  to  begin  his  public  career  with  sacerdotal 
honors,  said: 

Upon  your  writing  to  me  as  to  my  son's  leaving  you,  I  imme- 
diately hurried  my  letter  carriers  off  with  a  letter  to  my  son  telling 
him  that  if  he  came  to  Italy,  he  should  return  to  you :  for  nothing 
could  be  more  gratifying  to  me  and  nothing  more  honorable  to 
him.  However,  I  had  several  times  written  to  tell  him  that  the 
election  to  the  sacred  colleges  had  by  great  exertions  on  my  part 
been  put  off  to  another  year.108 

Marcus  did  remain  with  Brutus,  fighting  at  Philippi,   Marcus 
and  afterwards  joining  the  standard  of  Sextus  Pompey,   £!!!Su!Y? 
who  had  established  a  despotic  sea  power  upon  the  three   Philippi. 
islands  where  his  rule  was  absolute,  thus  posing  for  a  time 
as  the  last  champion  of  the  Republic  and  its  liberties. 
And  yet,  despite  such  obstinate  loyalty  upon  the  part  of 
Cicero's  son  to  the  fallen  cause,  he  became,  through  the 
influence  of  Augustus,  a  commissioner  of  the  Mint,  and 
member  of  the  College  of  Augurs,  and  finally  consul  with   Consul  with 
Augustus  as  his  colleague.     As  such,  public  letters  were  ^"foneag^e. 
addressed  to  him  by  Augustus  announcing  his  victory  at 
Actium  and  the  conquest  of  Egypt.    Nothing  more  point- 

i°7  Plut.,  Cic,  49.  108  Eptst.  ad  Brut.,  i,  14. 


3i8 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Long  life  of 
Terentia. 


The 

flimsy  case 
against  her. 


Cicero's 

misty 

statement. 


edly  illustrates  the  irony  of  fate  than  the  fact  that  as  con- 
sul, Cicero  the  younger  was  charged  with  the  execution  of 
the  decree  directing  the  destruction  of  all  statues  and 
monuments  of  Antony,  so  that  his  very  name  might  perish 
from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Not  until  after  he  had  been 
proconsul  for  Asia  Minor,  or,  according  to  Appian,  of 
Syria,  did  Cicero's  only  surviving  heir  pass  away  leaving 
no  issue  behind  him.109 

But  long  after  the  passing  of  Marcus,  his  mother, 
Terentia,  survived,  dying,  according  to  one  account,  in  her 
hundred  and  fourth  year.110  When  we  listen  to  the 
malevolent  gossip  of  Plutarch111  about  her,  we  should  be 
careful  to  remember  that  the  strongest  plea  he  can  make 
in  favor  of  Cicero's  divorce  from  the  mother  of  his  chil- 
dren, with  whom  he  lived  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and 
to  whom  he  addressed  many  of  the  tenderest  letters  ever 
penned,  is  that  he  was  "neglected  by  her  during  the  wai 
[the  Dyrrachium-Pharsalus  campaign]  when  he  was 
left  in  dire  want."  That  is  to  say,  that  when  he  was  in 
Pompey's  camp,  far  away  from  Italy,  his  absent  wife, 
whose  separate  estate  he  had  always  enjoyed,  did  not 
properly  supply  his  wants.  He  therefore  refused  to  per- 
mit her  to  join  him  at  Brundusium  on  his  return,  saying  in 
a  very  curt  letter:  "I  do  not  see  what  you  could  avail,  il 
you  came."  112  That  was  the  end.  It  is  true  that  in  i 
letter  to  Plancius,  Cicero,  in  speaking  of  the  disordered 
state  in  which  he  then  found  his  domestic  affairs,  said  that 
as  "there  was  nothing  safe  nor  free  from  treachery  within 
my  own  walls,  I  thought  I  ought  to  be  protected  by  the 

109  Cf.  Forsyth,  vol.  ii,  pp.  318  sq. 

110  According  to  Dio  she  was  thrice  married  after  her  divorce  froti 
Cicero. 

»*»  Plut,  Cic,  41. 
112  Ad  Fam.,  xiv,  12. 


THE  DUEL  TO  THE  DEATH  WITH  ANTONY  319 

fidelity  of  new  connections  against  the  perfidy  of  the 
old."  113  We  have  there  a  clear  indication  that  there  was 
something  entirely  apart  from  the  prosy  details  of  busi- 
ness affairs,  which  a  chivalrous  nature  was  unwilling  to 
express  and  yet  could  not  entirely  conceal  from  a  friend. 
If  no  such  hidden  cause  really  existed,  then  the  great  mor- 
alist can  only  be  defended  as  he  has  been  by  Cardinal 
Newman  who  says: 

In  reviewing  this  proceeding,  we  must  not  adopt  the  modern 
standard  of  propriety,  forgetful  of  a  condition  of  society  which 
reconciled  actions,  even  of  moral  turpitude,  with  a  reputation  for 
honor  and  virtue.114 

At  that  time  the  Roman  wife  stood  at  a  great  disadvan-   The  Roman 
tage  by  reason  of  the  facility  with  which  the  husband   ^l*^ 

Could  divorce  her.  advantage. 

For  the  very  reason  that  matrimony  was  for  the  nobility  a 
political  act,  the  Romans  were  never  willing  to  allow  that  it 
could  be  indissoluble;  indeed,  even  when  the  woman  was  in  no 
sense  culpable,  they  reserved  to  the  man  the  right  of  undoing  it 
at  any  time  he  wished,  solely  because  that  particular  marriage  did 
not  suit  his  political  interests.  And  the  marriage  could  be  dis- 
solved by  the  most  expeditious  means,  without  formality  —  by  a 
mere  letter !  "5 

The  only  consolation  Roman  law  really  extended  to  the 
abandoned  wife  was  embodied  in  the  provision  compelling   Return  of 
the  divorcing  husband  to  return  the  dower,  a  compliance    *  e  ower' 
with  which  provision  reduced  Cicero,  after  his  divorce 
from  Terentia,  to  the  gravest  straits. 

113  Ad  Fam.,  iv,  14. 

114  "Personal  and  Literary  Character  of  Cicero,"  Historical  Sketches, 
vol.  i,  p.  255. 

115  Ferrero,  The  Women  of  the  Caesars,  pp.  33-34- 


CHAPTER  XI 


A  fruit- 
bearing  tree 
and  thought- 
bearing  man 
contrasted. 


Cicero  fell 
like  an  oak 
with  its 
leaves  fresh 
and  green 
upon  it. 


TREATISES    ON    RHETORIC 

In  studying  the  life  of  a  thought-bearing  man  we 
should  learn  from  the  arborist  who,  in  studying  the  life  of 
a  fruit-bearing  tree,  is  careful  to  note  everything,  includ- 
ing the  entire  environment  of  earth  and  air,  which  marks 
the  initial  period  that  precedes  the  breaking  of  the  first 
buds  through  the  bark.  Then,  as  season  follows  season, 
he  inquires  critically  into  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the 
fruit  produced  down  to  the  time  when  exhausted  nature 
falters  and  falls  back  into  a  state  of  decay. 

When  the  life  of  Cicero  as  a  thought-bearing  man  is 
studied  by  that  method,  we  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed 
by  the  fact  that  it  ended  before  it  was  possible  for  it 
to  falter  or  fall  back  into  a  state  of  decay.  From  about 
his  twentieth  to  his  sixty-fourth  year  his  mind  persisted  in 
producing,  at  fairly  regular  intervals,  immortal  fruits  that 
have  been  to  the  world  like  golden  apples  from  the  garden 
of  the  Hesperides.1  His  intellectual  output  was  never 
more  brilliant  or  more  bountiful  than  during  the  two  years 
immediately  preceding  his  death.  When  his  life  was  sud- 
denly cut  off  in  the  forest  near  Formiae,  he  went  down 
like  a  sturdy  oak  felled  by  the  axmen  with  all  its  leaves 
fresh  and  green  upon  it.  There  had  been  no  decay;  the 
stem  was  severed  from  the   root  before  disintegration 

1  "Praeclara  fades,  magnae  divitiae,  ad  hoc  vis  corporis,  alia  hujusce- 
modi  omnia,  brevi  dilabuntur;  at  ingenii  egregia  facinora,  sicuti  anima, 
immortalia  sunt."  —  Sallust,  Jug.,  2.  "Personal  beauty,  great  riches,  strength 
of  body,  and  all  other  things  of  this  kind,  pass  away  in  a  short  time;  but 
the  noble  productions  of  the  mind,  like  the  soul  itself,  are  immortal." 

320 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  321 

could  set  in;  and  so  both  the  tree  and  its  fruits  have  been 
preserved  for  all  time. 

By  the  aid  of  the  preceding  sketch  of  Cicero's  career  as 
advocate  and  statesman  it  will  be  easier  to  explain  how 
each  one  of  his  productions  was  the  natural,   perhaps  Each  produc- 
inevitable,  outcome  of  the  particular  period  of  his  life  tlon  the  nat" 

*  t      x  ural  outcome 

to  which  it  belongs.  In  that  way  it  will  appear  how  unpre-  of  a  particu- 
meditated  his  career  as  an  author  really  was.  As  he  ar  peno  ' 
grew,  his  thoughts  grew  with  his  experience;  and  in  the 
fragments  of  time  he  was  able  to  steal  from  the  exacting 
duties  incident  to  a  busy  and  eventful  life,  he  embodied 
them  in  the  letters,  speeches,  essays,  and  books  that  have 
come  down  to  us. 

As  we  shall  soon  see,  his  first  effort  at  authorship,  made  Conditions 
at  twenty,  was  in  the  form  of  a  treatise  on  rhetoric,  com-  that  Prompt- 

'        #  t  ed  his  first 

posed  at  a  time  when  the  laws  were  silent  and  the  courts  treatise  on 
closed  in  the  midst  of  the  confusion  which  the  Social  War   r  etonc- 
had  brought  about.     As  the  ambitious  young  advocate 
could  not  practice  the  art  with  his  voice  in  the  courts,  he 
concluded  to  express  himself  with  his  pen  in  a  book. 
From  that  time  until  a  few  months  preceding  his  death  he 
was  producing  a  series  of  treatises  on  rhetoric  which  can 
only  be  fairly  judged  when  considered  together  as  a  single 
progressive  development.      Out  of  his  experience  as  a   His  works  on 
statesman  grew  his  works  on  the  science  of  politics,  i.  e.,  f^Ya"™6"* 
on  government  and  law,  which  will  be  next  considered  as 
a  connected  whole. 

Finally,    as   he   ascended  towards   the   zenith   of  his 
powers,  his  ripest  thoughts  were  recorded  in  the  more 
mature  works  on  philosophy  and  theology  which  admit  us  Onphiloso- 
into  the  penetralia  of  his  mind  and  soul.    As  sidelights  to  ^hJ0^ 
that  long  procession  of  mental  creations  we  have  the  price- 
less letters,  which  begin  in  his  thirty-ninth  year,  68  B.C., 


322 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


The  corre- 
spondence. 


Young  Mar- 
cus a  recruit 
at  the  age  of 
seventeen. 


Courts  closed 
by  a  special 
decree. 


when  he  was  already  a  man  of  established  reputation,  and 
end  with  the  touching  appeal  addressed  to  Cassius,  in  the 
last  letter  preserved  to  us,  written  very  early  in  July, 
43  B.C.  In  this  and  the  three  succeeding  chapters  an 
effort  will  be  made  to  outline  briefly  the  works  of  Cicero 
in  the  order  named.  When  that  outline  is  filled  in  by 
a  reading  of  the  choicest  extracts  taken  from  all  of  his 
more  important  works,  as  they  appear  in  the  Anthology, 
the  general  reader  should  have  a  fairly  clear  com- 
prehension of  Cicero's  mental  output  considered  as  a 
whole. 

In  the  account  heretofore  given  of  the  Social  or  Italian 
War  we  have  had  a  glimpse  of  young  Marcus  Cicero  as  a 
recruit  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  attached  in  some  capacity 
to  the  pretorium  and  the  person  of  the  consul  Strabo,  with 
whose  son  Cnaeus  Pompey,  very  near  his  own  age,  he  was 
then  for  the  first  time  brought  into  contact.2  Reference 
was  then  made  to  the  horrors  of  a  civil  war  in  which  the 
only  chance  for  success  was  in  the  possession  of  a  superior 
army,  and  in  which  defeat  was  followed  by  the  annihila- 
tion of  the  routed  faction.  The  Commonwealth  itself 
seemed  to  be  in  a  state  of  disintegration;  the  thirst  for 
vengeance  knew  no  bounds,  and  nearly  all  the  great 
orators  that  remained  fell  victims  to  the  fury  of  class 
hatred. 

While  the  outward  forms  of  the  old  republican  consti- 
tution still  survived,  there  was  no  real  government  by  the 
people  at  the  time  Cinna  pretended  to  be  their  leader,  or 
by  the  Senate,  only  a  fraction  of  which  then  remained  at 
the  capital.  In  the  midst  of  such  scenes  that  body  had,  by 
a  special  decree,  closed  the  ordinary  courts,  thus  cutting 
off  all  opportunity  for  listening  to   forensic  procedure. 

2  See  above,  p.  84. 


1 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  323 

The  rising  light  of  the  bar,  Hortensius,  was  away  with 
the  army,  and  so  was  Sulpicius  Rufus,  the  most  distin- 
guished of  those  in  middle  life,  and  Antonius,  the  most 
famous  orator  among  the  older  men.  The  only  court 
of  importance  still  open  was  the  Commission  of  High-  Exception, 
Treason  to  whose  bar  some  of  the  noblest  men  in  Rome   Co™mJsslon 

or  High- 

were  brought  on  the  charge  of  having  "incited  the  allies   Treason. 
to  revolt."    Of  one  of  its  victims,  the  orator  Caius  Cotta, 
Cicero  writes:  "His  exile  just  at  the  time  I  was  most 
anxious  to  hear  him  was  the  first  unfortunate  incident  in 
my  career."3     At  such  a  moment  when  all  hope  of  a 
forensic  career  seemed  to  have  vanished,  Cicero  resolved 
to  compensate  himself  for  the  loss  of  opportunity  for 
practical  oratory  by  composing  a  book  in  Latin  upon  the   A  book  on 
general  theory  of  rhetoric  —  rhetoric  being  then  consid-  the  general 
ered,  of  course,  as  a  branch  of  philosophy;  and,  according  rhetoric, 
to  Cicero,  philosophy  is  "the  fountain  head  of  all  per- 
fect eloquence,  the  mother  of  all  good  deeds  and  good 
works."4     If  certain  passages  of  the  De  Oratore,5  put 
into  the  mouth  of  the  orator  Crassus,  may  be  taken  as 
autobiographical  of  Cicero  himself,  we  have  the  following 
description  of  his  method  of  preparation  as  a  stylist  in 
Latin  prose.    He  says: 

In  daily  notes  with  my  pen   [commentationibus]   as  a  young  Preparation 

person  I  was  wont  to  set  before  me  that  training  particularly.   ? s  a.  sty'lst  in 

tt     •  1  t»i  v  •     ■  l       Latin  prose. 

....  Having  taken  some  lines  from  a  poet,  lines  preeminent  tor 

weighty  meaning,  or  having  read  some  speech  to  a  point  of  extent 

which  I  could  comprehend  in  memory,  I  reproduced  the  very 
;  subject-matter  which  I  had  read  [but]  with  different  words,  and 

as  choice  words  as  I  possibly  could.  But  afterwards  I  observed 
I  that  this  procedure  had  this  fault,  that  those  words  which  were 

most  specifically  suitable,  had  been  appropriated  already  by  Ennius, 

3  Brut.,  89. 

4  Ibid.,  93. 

5  For  example,  i,  34.    Cf.  Sihler,  pp.  32-33. 


324 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


if  it  was  his  poetry  that  I  was  practicing  on,  or  by  Gracchus,  if 
I  perhaps  had  set  a  speech  of  his  before  me,  that  consequently 
if  I  used  the  same  words,  I  gained  no  advantage,  and  if  others,  it 
was  even  a  hindrance  towards  advancement,  since  I  formed  the 
habit  of  using  less  appropriate  words. 

Afterwards  I  determined,  and  I  followed  this  practice  in  my 
youth,  to  translate  the  speeches  of  the  greatest  Greek  orators. 
After  their  perusal  I  gained  this  result,  that  when  I  reproduced  in 
Latin  what  I  had  read  in  Greek,  I  used  not  only  the  best  and 
still  current  words,  but  even  latinized  certain  words  by  imitating 
them,  which  were  new  to  the  Latin  world,  provided  they  were 
only  suitable.6 

The  fact  here  emphasized  that  Ennius  and  Caius  Grac- 
chus held  the  first  places  among  the  Latin  classics  studied 
by  the  young  advocates  as  models  of  style,  naturally  sug- 
gests the  poverty  of  Roman  letters  at  that  time.  After  a 
review  of  the  initial  period  of  Roman  literature,  begin- 
Cicero's  time,  ning  about  240  B.C.  and  ending  in  the  early  manhood  of 
Cicero,  it  is  impossible  not  to  understand  that,  prior  to  the 
appearance  of  his  works,  no  serious  attempts  had  been 
made  by  the  Romans,  deficient  in  philosophical  acuteness, 
to  apply  the  Latin  tongue  to  philosophical  subjects,  the 
natural  stubbornness  of  the  language  conspiring  to  pre- 
vent such  an  application. 

Ennius  (239—169  B.  c.)  had  done  something,  it  is  true, 
to  give  a  new  impetus  to  the  native  genius  and  a  new 
direction  to  Roman  letters  as  a  medium  of  conciliation 
between  Greek  and  Roman  thought,  endowed  as  he  was 
with  "a  poetical  imagination  and  animated  with  enthu- 
sism  for  a  great  ideal."  Contemporary  with  him  was 
M.  Porcius  Cato  (234-149  B.C.),  who,  setting  himself  ii 
antagonism  to  the  literature  of  imagination  created  by 
Ennius  placed  prose  literature  on  the  main  lines  it  after- 


Poverty  of 

Roman  let- 
ters prior  to 


Ennius. 


M.  Porcius 
Cato. 


6  De  Oral.,  i,  34. 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  325 

ward  followed  by  making  it  ancillary  to  politics7  and  to 
objects  of  practical  utility. 

As  the  head  of  an  historical  school,  Cato,  the  author  of 
the  Origines,  stands  first  among  those  who,  imbued  with 
the  thoroughly  Roman  conception  of  history  as  a  chronicle 
of  actors  and  events  considered  as  incidents  in  the  pro- 
gressive life  of  the  state,  ignore  almost  entirely  their 
causes  or  their  general  interest  as  viewed  from  a  socio- 
logical standpoint.  More  perfectly  than  either  Naevius 
or  Plautus,  Cato  represents  the  pure  native  element  in 
Roman  literature,  the  primitive  character  of  Latium,  the 
plebeian  pugnacity  conspicuous  as  one  of  the  great  forces 
in  Roman  society. 

The    Roman   farmer  class   to   which   Cicero's   grand-   Cicero's 
father,  living  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  belonged,  was  full  gran    at  er' 
of  that  kind  of  pugnacity,  always  aroused  by  every  kind 
of   innovation,    even   where   the    introduction   of   Greek 
learning  was  concerned.     The  old  knight,  who  hated  the 
Greeks,    used    to    say    that    his    countrymen    were    like 
Syrian  slaves,   the  more   Greek  they  knew  the   greater 
rascals  they  were.     There  was,  however,  a  better  feeling 
on  that  subject  among  the  friends  of  Cicero's   father, 
who  was  proud  of  the  acquaintance  of  Marcus  Antonius   Greek 
and  Lucinius  Crassus,   eminent  pleaders  at  the   Roman  J^[™kfs° 
bar,  who  were  steeped  in  Greek  learning  and  culture,   and  Crassus. 
the  former  speaking  Greek  with  great  fluency.     And  yet 
so  fearful  of  disturbing  ancient  habits  and  traditions  was 
Crassus,  who  seems  to  have  taken  a  kindly  interest  in 
the    education   of   the   young   Marcus    and   his   brother 

7  He  was  the  first  to  publish  his  speeches,  and  in  that  way  gave  an 
impulse  to  the  creation  of  Roman  oratory.  Cicero  says  that  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  these  speeches  were  extant  in  his  day.  See  the  excellent  article 
on  "Roman  Literature"  by  Professor  Sellar  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh, 
Enc.  Brit.,  9th  ed.,  vol.  xx. 


326  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Quintus,  that,  when  censor  in  the  year  92  B.  c.  he  joined 
with  his  colleague  in  the  issuance  of  a  decree,  hereto- 
fore quoted,  closing  the  schools  of  the  Latin  rheto- 
ricians. 

In  the  light  of  such  an  edict  it  is  not  strange  that  in 
his  later  years  Cicero,  who  took  up  the  study  of  oratory 
and  rhetoric  before  he  had  completed  his  fifteenth  year, 
Cicero's  rhe-    should  have  complained  that  his  rhetorical  training  was 
ing  defective    specially  defective  on  the  ethical  side,  a  training  which 
on  the  ethical  should  have  been  made  the  prelude  to  his  studies  in  gov- 
ernment and  law.     And  yet  he  persisted,  despite  all  ob- 
stacles, in  perfecting  himself  in  rhetoric  with  all  that  the 
name  implied.     The  acquisition  of  the  power  to  express 
himself  perfectly  in  Latin,  both  with  tongue  and  pen,  was 
the  object  he  put  above  all  others  at  the  outset  of  his 
career.     He  was  not  dismayed  by  the  fact  that,  at  that 
time,  the  Romans  had  no  manuals  of  philosophy  or  any 
philosophical  writings  in  Latin  apart  from  the  poem  of 
Lucretius,     and     some     poor    productions    by     obscure 
Epicureans.     He  was  not  discouraged  by  the  fact  that 
Latin  not  a       Latin   was    not    a    philosophical    language,    nor   one    in 
language.103    wmcn  a  deep  thinker  could  express  himself  with  clear- 
ness and  purity.     He  purposed  to  do  all  in  his  power 
to   remove  both  defects.     In  the  words  of  a  masterful 
critic : 

Cardinal  Terence     and     Lucretius    had     cultivated     simplicity;     Cotta, 

Newman's  Brutus,  and  Calvus  had  attempted  strength;  but  Cicero  rather 
made  a  language  than  a  style;  yet  not  so  much  by  the  invention 
as  by  the  combination  of  words.  Some  terms,  indeed,  his  philo- 
sophical subjects  obliged  him  to  coin;8  but  his  great  art  lies  in  the 
application  of  existing  materials,  in  converting  the  very  disadvan- 
tages of  the  language  into  beauties,  in  enriching  it  with  circumlo- 
cutions and  metaphors,  in  pruning  it  of  harsh  and  uncouth 
sDe  Fin.,  Hi,  1  and  4;  Lucull.,  6;  Plut,  Cic,  58. 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  327 

expressions,  in  systematizing  the  structure  of  a  sentence.  This  is 
that  copia  decendi  which  gained  Cicero  the  high  testimony  of 
Caesar  to  his  inventive  powers,  and  which,  we  may  add,  consti- 
tutes him  the  greatest  master  of  composition  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen.9 

The  classicists,  who  are  always  full  of  cares,  will  never 
be  able  perhaps  to  solve  all  the  problems  growing  out  of 
the  publication  of  a  certain  Latin  manual  in  four  books,   The 
composed  at  Rome,  and  addressed  to  a  certain  Heren-   J^r^J^dto 
nius,  covering  the  entire  domain  of  rhetoric.     It  seems   Herennius. 
to  be  clear  that  the  publication  of  that  work  preceded 
that  of  Cicero's  De  Inventione  Rhetorica,  only  two  books 
of  which  have  survived,  a  torso  only  of  what  was  origi- 
nally intended  to  be  a  comprehensive  treatise  (ars).     It 
is  possible  that  the  publication  of  the  complete  manual, 
Ad  Herennium,   influenced   Cicero  not  to  continue   and 
complete  his  own  work.     It  seems  to  be  safe  to  say  that 
both  writers,  in  the  main,  latinized  a  Greek  original,  and   A  Greek 
evidently  the  same  one,  a  prominent  feature  of  both  being   k|^SLi 
the  theory  of  status,  i.  e.y  "the  entire  range  of  positions, 
assumed  or  assumable,  in  the  struggle  between  the  prose- 
cution and  defense,  the  essential  thing  in  the  entire  doc- 
trine of  proving  and  disproving."  10 

While  it  is  impossible  to  say  exactly  when  Cicero's 
work  was  published,  the  expressions  employed  in  the  De 
Oratore:  qoniam  quae  pueris  aut  adolescentulis  nobis 
ex  commentariolis  nostris  inchoata  ac  rudia  exciderunt, 
vix  hac  aetate  digna  et  hoc  usu  quern  ex  causis,  quas  dixi- 
mus,  tot  tantisque  consecuti  sumus,11  evidently  point  to 
his  early  youth  —  probably  to  that  part  of  it  passed  in 
the  midst  of  the  reign  of  terror  darkened  by  the  acts  of 

9  Cardinal  Newman,  "Cicero,"  Historical  Sketches,  vol.  i,  p.  297. 
10Sihler,  p.  35. 
11  De  Orat.,  i,  2. 


328 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


All  of  Cice- 
ro's composi- 
tions on  rhet- 
oric drawn 
from  Greek 
sources. 


How 

eloquence 
must  be 
considered. 


Constituent 
elements  of 
a  speech. 


Constitution 
of  the  case. 


Cinna  and  Marius  (87-84  B.C.).12  From  his  Greek 
teachers,  and  from  the  writings  of  the  Greeks,  notably 
Aristotle,  Socrates,  and  Theophrastus,  Cicero  evidently 
derived  the  materials  for  all  his  rhetorical  works,  which 
were  refined  as  time  went  on  by  his  own  speculative 
researches,  and  his  wide  personal  experience  of  the 
oratorical  art. 

In  his  first  effort,  De  Inventione,  after  speaking  of  the 
origin  and  growth  of  eloquence,  its  use  and  abuse,  he  says 
it  must  be  considered  first,  as  to  its  general  character  and 
position  among  the  sciences  (genus);  second,  as  to  the 
function  it  is  expected  to  perform  (officium)  ;  third,  as  to 
the  end  it  is  designed  to  attain  (finis);  fourth,  as  to  the 
subject-matter  of  a  discourse  (materia);  fifth,  as  to  the 
constituent  elements  of  a  discourse  (partes  rhetoricae). 
The  subject-matter  of  a  discourse  must  be  classified  ac- 
cording to  the  audience,  which  may  be  composed  of  mere 
students  of  the  oratorical  art,  or  of  those  who  compose 
legislative  and  political  assemblies  as  judges  of  the  future, 
or  of  those  who  compose  the  courts  of  law  as  judges  of 
the  past. 

The  constituent  elements  of  a  speech  should  consist 
of  the  invention  of  arguments  (inventio) ;  of  their  ar- 
rangement (dispositio) ;  of  the  form  of  their  expression 
(eloquutio) ;  of  clearness  of  perception  and  tactful  pres- 
entation (memoria) ;  of  the  delivery,  including  modula- 
tion of  the  voice  and  gestures  (pronuntiatio).  Every  case 
involving  a  difference  of  opinion  (controversia)  presents 
a  question  termed  the  constitution   (constitutio)   of  the 


12  Here  I  desire,  once  for  all,  to  acknowledge  my  great  indebtedness,  in 
this  and  the  three  following  chapters,  to  the  invaluable  article  on  Cicero 
contained  in  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Biography  and 
Mythology,  a  source  of  knowledge  whose  critical  and  historical  value  does 
not  diminish  with  the  flight  of  time. 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  329 

case.  After  that  has  been  determined,  we  must  next 
settle  whether  a  single  question  is  involved  or  several, 
and  whether  the  arguments  do  not  depend  on  some  docu- 
ment. After  the  exact  point  has  been  determined,  the 
plea  in  justification,  the  rejoinder,  and  the  replication 
must  each  be  considered  in  its  order. 

Not  until  such  matters  have  all  been  settled  should  the  Final  ar- 
orator  proceed  to  arrange  his  exordium,  or  introduction;  ^"discourse, 
his  statement  of  his  case ;  his  explanation  of  the  manner  of 
handling  it;  his  array  of  arguments  in  support  of  his 
positions;  his  refutation  of  the  arguments  of  his  antago- 
nist; his  conclusion  or  peroration.  Such  was  the  substance 
of  this  adaptation  from  the  Greek  rhetoricians,  which 
had  great  vogue  in  the  Middle  Ages,  despite  the  fact  that 
Cicero  himself  spoke  too  slightingly  of  it  in  his  later 
years  as  a  crude  performance.13  The  following  are  cer- 
tainly grave  reflections  from  a  young  man  of  say  one- 
and-twenty : 

A  controversy  arises  with  respect  to  the  letter  of  the  document  How  a  docu- 
and  to  its  meaning,  when  one  party  employs  the  very  words  which  ™ent  should 
are  set  down  in  the  paper,  and  the  other  applies  all  his  arguments 
to  that  which  he  affirms  that  the  f  ramers  of  the  document  intended. 
But  the  intention  of  the  framer  of  the  document  must  be  proved, 
by  the  man  who  defends  himself  by  reference  to  that  intention, 
to  have  always  the  same  object  in  view  and  the  same  meaning; 
and  it  must  also,  either  by  reference  to  the  action  or  to  some  result, 
be  adapted  to  the  time  which  the  inquiry  concerns 

Definition  is  when  a  word  is  set  down  in  a  written  document,    When  a 
whose  exact  meaning  is  inquired  into,  in  this  manner:  There  is  a   contestant 
law,  "Whoever  in  a  severe  tempest  desert  their  ship  shall  be  de-   the  letter 
prived  of  all  their  property ;  the  ship  and  the  cargo  shall  belong   of  the  law." 
to  those  men  who  remain  by  the  ship."     Two  men,  when  they 
sailed  on  the  open  sea,  and  when  the  ship  belonged  to  one  of  them 
and  the  cargo  to  another,  noticed  a  shipwrecked  man  swimming 

13  De  Orat.,  I,  2. 


330  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

and  holding  out  his  hands  to  them.  Being  moved  with  pity  they 
directed  the  ship  towards  him,  and  took  the  man  into  their  vessel. 
A  little  afterwards  the  storm  began  to  toss  them  also  about  very 
violently,  to  such  a  degree  that  the  owner  of  the  ship,  who  was 
also  the  pilot,  got  into  a  little  boat,  and  from  that  he  guided  the 
ship  as  well  as  he  could  by  the  rope  by  which  the  boat  was  fastened 
to  the  ship,  and  so  towed  along;  but  the  man  to  whom  the  cargo 
belonged  threw  himself  on  his  sword  in  despair.  On  this  the 
shipwrecked  man  took  the  helm  and  assisted  the  ship  as  far  as  he 
could.  But  after  the  waves  went  down  and  the  tempest  abated, 
the  ship  arrived  in  harbor.  But  the  man  who  had  fallen  on  his 
sword  turned  out  to  be  but  slightly  wounded,  and  easily  recovered 
of  his  wound.  And  then  every  one  of  these  three  men  claimed  the 
ship  and  cargo  for  his  own.  Each  one  of  them  relies  on  the  letter 
of  the  law  to  support  his  claim,  and  a  dispute  arises  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  expressions  "to  abandon  the  ship,"  "to  stand  by 
the  ship,"  and  even  what  "the  ship"  itself  is.14 

A  useful  companion  to  the  treatise  De  Inventione  is  to 

DePartitione  be  found  in  De  Partitione  Oratorio,  Dialogus,  generally 

ca^ecMsm3      described  as  a  catechism  of  rhetoric,   according  to  the 

for  the  use       method  of  the  Middle  Academy,  prepared  by  Cicero  in 

the  form  of  questions  and  answers,  for  the  use  of  his 

son  Marcus,  probably  about  the  close  of  the  year  46  B.C. 

or  the  beginning  of  the  year  45  B.C.,  shortly  before  th( 

death  of  Tullia  and  the  departure  of  Marcus  for  Athens. 

The  whole      The  whole  of  the  art  of  rhetoric  is  therein   arranged 

*m&trt\nt?    un^ev  tnTee  heads  —  the  first  treating  of  the  subject  in 

heads.  reference  to  the  speaker  (vis  oratoris);  the  second,  of 

the  speech   (oratio);  the  third,   of  the  case    (questio). 

The  precepts  with  regard  to  the  speaker  are  then  ranged 

under  five  heads  —  inventio,  collocatio,  eloquutio,  actio, 

and  memoria;  while  the  precepts  with  regard  to  the  speech 

itself  are   also   arranged  under  five  heads  —  exordium, 

narratio,  confirmatio,  reprehensio,  peroratio.     The  case 

14  De  Invent.,  ii,  51. 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  331 

may  be  infinita,  in  which  neither  persons  nor  times  are 
defined;  or  it  may  be  finita,  in  which  the  persons  are 
defined,  when  it  is  called  causa.  The  precepts  with  regard 
to  the  questio  infinita  are  then  ranged  under  two  heads; 
and  the  precepts  with  regard  to  the  questio  finita  under 
three  heads. 

Such  partitiones,  corresponding  to  the  Greek  8iaipeo-«?,  Partitiones 
are  considered  to  be  the  most  purely  scientific  of  all  JSJL 
Cicero's  rhetorical  works,  despite  the  tediousness  and 
obscurity  of  the  tract  as  a  whole,  which  is  poor  in  illus- 
trations and  highly  technical  in  its  details.  The  following 
question  and  answer  may  be  taken  as  striking  illustrations 
of  its  style : 

VI.  Cicero  Fil.  I  understand  you  now  so  far  as  simple  Illustrations 
expressions  go ;  now  I  ask  about  words  in  combination.  Cicero  °f lts  sty'e. 
Pat.  There  is  a  certain  rhythm  which  must  be  observed  in  such 
combination,  and  a  certain  order  in  which  words  must  follow  one 
another.  Our  ears  themselves  measure  the  rhythm;  and  guard 
against  your  failing  to  fill  up  with  the  requisite  words  the  sen- 
tence which  has  begun,  and  against  your  being  too  exuberant 
on  the  other  hand.  But  the  order  in  which  words  follow  one 
another  is  laid  down  to  prevent  an  oration  being  a  confused  medley 
of  genders,  numbers,  tenses,  persons,  and  cases;  for,  as  in  simple 
words,  that  which  is  not  Latin,  so  in  combined  expressions,  that 
which  is  not  well  arranged  deserves  to  be  blamed.  But  there  are 
these  five  lights  as  it  were,  which  are  common  to  both  single  words 
and  combined  expressions:  they  must  be  clear,  concise,  probable, 
intelligible,  agreeable.  Clearness  is  produced  by  common  words, 
appropriate,  well  arranged,  in  a  well-rounded  period ;  on  the 
other  hand,  obscurity  is  caused  by  either  too  great  length  or  a  too 
great  contraction  of  the  sentence;  or  by  ambiguity;  or  by  any 
misuse  or  alteration  of  the  ordinary  sense  of  words.  But  brevity 
is  produced  by  simple  words,  by  speaking  only  once  of  each  point, 
by  aiming  at  no  one  object  except  speaking  clearly.15 

is  De  Part.  Orat.,  6. 


332 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Quoted  by 
Quintilian. 


De  Oratore. 


As  this  production  is  often  quoted  by  Quintilian  with- 
out any  expression  of  doubt  as  to  its  genuineness,  there 
is  no  real  reason  to  question  it,  despite  the  fact  that  Cicero 
makes  no  reference  to  it  in  any  of  his  other  works. 

We  must  now  turn  back  to  the  period  of  calm  towards 
the  end  of  55  B.C.,  about  two  years  after  Cicero's  return 
from  exile,  when,  living  in  comparative  retirement  from 
public  life,  he  published  the  immortal  De  Oratore,  the 
most  brilliant  and  polished  of  all  his  rhetorical  works, 
and  one  of  the  foremost  of  all  the  prose  compositions 
of  classical  antiquity.  In  April  preceding  the  publica- 
tion he  writes  from  Puteoli,  where  probably  the 
greater  part  of  the  De  Oratore  was  planned,  to  Atticus, 
saying: 

I  am  here  devouring  the  library  of  Faustus.16  Perhaps  you 
thought  I  was  feasting  on  the  beauties  of  Puteoli  and  the  Lucrine 
lake.  Well,  I  have  them  too.  But  I  declare  to  heaven  that  the 
more  I  am  debarred  from  the  enjoyment  of  ordinary  pleasures, 
owing  to  the  political  situation,  the  more  do  I  find  support  and 
refreshment  in  literature;  and  I  would  rather  be  sitting  in  that 
charming  seat  of  yours,  under  your  bust  of  Aristotle,  than  in  their 
[Pompey  and  Crassus']  curule  chair,  and  be  taking  a  stroll  with 
you  rather  than  with  the  great  man  [Pompey,  as  the  context 
shows] ,  with  whom  I  see  I  shall  have  to  walk.17 

The  author  put  aside  all  the  formal  stiffness  arising 
out  of  the  dry  technicalities  of  the  schools  when  he  re- 
A  systematic    solved  to  compose  a  systematic  work  on  oratory  at  the 
request  of  his  brother  Quintus,   and  therefore  entitled 
De  Oratore  ad  Quintum  Fratrem.     The  scene  is  laid  in 


A  letter  to 
Atticus. 


work  on  ora 
tory  com- 
posed at  the 
request  of 
Quintus. 


16  A  son  of  the  dictator  Sulla,  who  is  known  to  have  brought  back  from 
Athens  a  famous  Aristotelian  library. 

17  Ad  Att.,  iv,  10.  On  November  15  he  wrote  to  Atticus  (iv,  13)  saying: 
"About  my  oratorical  books,  I  have  been  working  hard.  They  have  been 
long  in  hand  and  much  revised;  you  can  get  them  copied  [that  is,  by  his 
librarii,  Atticus  again  acting  as  his  publisher]." 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  333 

the  last  days  of  the  great  orator  Lucius  Crassus,  and  the 
conversation  turns  on  the  subject  of  rhetoric,  and  the 
qualifications  requisite  for  the  perfect  orator.  The  sec- 
ond person  in  the  dialogue  is  the  famous  rival  of  Crassus, 
Antonius,  while,  in  the  opening  scene  Cicero's  old 
teacher,  Scaevola,  the  augur,  takes  part  for  a  moment 
in  a  discussion  in  which  the  minor  figures  are  the  younger 
statesmen  of  the  day,  such  as  Catulus  and  his  half-brother 
C.  Julius  Caesar  Strabo.  The  technical  discussions  are 
artfully  enlivened  by  anecdote  and  conversation  in  such 
a  captivating  way  as  to  remind  the  reader  of  a  dialogue 
of  Plato. 

An  air  of  grandeur  and  magnificence  reigns  throughout.    The   "An  air  of 

characters  of  the  aged  senators  are  finely  conceived,  and  the  whole   grandeur 

.  ,  ,  ,.   .  .  t  ,       and  magniri- 

company  is  invested  with  an  almost  religious  majesty,  from  the   cence  reigns 

allusions  interspersed  to   the  melancholy   destinies  for  which   its  throughout." 

numbers  were  reserved.18 

We  have  in  this  form  a  mature  and  finished  exposition, 
after  his  long  experience  as  a  forensic  and  tribunitian 
orator,  of  Cicero's  opinions  of  his  art,  as  a  substitute 
for  the  views  hastily  and  imperfectly  expressed  in  his 
earlier  years.  The  conversations  take  us  to  the  Tusculan  Tusculan 
villa  of  Crassus,  at  a  time  (91  B.C.)  immediately  before  JjJrJjf ££**" 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Italian  War,  when  all  Rome  was 
stirred  by  the  proposal  of  the  tribune  M.  Livius  Drusus 
to  permit  the  senators  to  sit  with  the  equites  as  judges  in 
criminal  trials.  That  proposal,  violently  opposed  by  the 
consul  Philippus,  was  supported  as  earnestly  by  Crassus, 
who  had  the  year  before  filled  the  office  of  censor. 

In  order  to  collect  his  thoughts  and  nerve  himself  for 
the  impending  conflict,  Crassus  is  supposed  to  have  retired 
to  his  country  seat  accompanied  by  his  friend  and  political 

18  Newman,  "Cicero,"  Historical  Sketches,  vol.  i,  p.  281. 


334 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Varied 
accomplish- 
ments of  the 
perfect 
orator. 


Technology 
of  the  subj  ect. 


ally,  M.  Antonius,  Quintus  Mucius  Scaevola  the  augur, 
Cicero's  first  law  teacher,  and  the  father-in-law  of 
Crassus,  and  two  young  men  of  great  promise,  C.  Aure- 
lius  Cotta  and  P.  Sulpicius  Rufus,  who  were  eager  to 
distinguish  themselves  in  oratory.  After  the  three  sages 
have  exhausted  the  first  day  in  the  discussion  of  public 
affairs,  they  relax  on  the  second,  when  the  group,  stretched 
at  ease  in  the  shade  of  a  spreading  plane  tree,  begin,  at 
the  solicitation  of  Cotta  and  Sulpicius,  a  conversation  on 
the  orator,  conducted  by  the  elders,  who  continue  it  until 
the  following  afternoon. 

At  the  end  of  the  first  dialogue10  Scaevola  retires, 
yielding  his  place  to  Catulus  and  his  half-brother,  C. 
Julius  Caesar  Strabo,  the  former  famed  for  the  perfect 
purity  of  his  diction,  the  latter  for  his  biting  wit.  In 
the  course  of  the  debate  as  to  the  qualifications  of  those 
who  hope  to  be  preeminent  in  oratory,  Crassus,  speak- 
ing of  course  the  thought  of  Cicero,  after  emphasizing 
the  dignity,  the  importance,  the  utility  of  eloquence,  de- 
scribes the  varied  accomplishments  and  attainments,  prac- 
tical and  theoretical,  which  must  constitute  the  perfect 
orator. 

Antonius,  evidently  of  a  more  practical  temper,  while 
admitting  the  value  of  universal  knowledge  to  the  orator, 
if  attainable,  indicates  in  no  uncertain  terms  his  belief 
that,  instead  of  wasting  his  time  in  the  vain  effort  to 
master  all  of  the  liberal  arts,  the  orator  might  more 
profitably  employ  himself  in  improving,  by  self-training 
and  experience,  his  natural  talents,  his  voice,  his  manner 
of  delivery.  Then  Antonius  and  Crassus  enter  jointly 
upon  the  technology  (rexvokoyla)20  of  the  subject,  pointing, 
out  the  principles  and  rules  on  which  the  rhetorical  art ' 


™AdAtt.,  iv,  16. 


■°Ibid.,  iv,  1 6. 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  335 

depends,  only  by  the  observance  of  which  can  perfection 
in  it  be  attained. 

Here  it  is  that  we  learn: 

All  action  is  of  the  mind,  and  the  mirror  of  the  mind  is  the  face, 
its  index  the  eyes.21 

....  The  mind's  eye  is  more  easily  impressed  by  what  is  seen 
than  by  what  is  heard.22 

....  So  great  is  the  influence  of  numbers,  that  an  orator  can  no 
more  be  eloquent  without  a  crowded  audience  than  a  flute-player 
can  play  without  a  flute.23 

....  History  is  the  witness  of  the  times,  the  light  of  truth,  the 
life  of  memory,  the  schoolmistress  of  life,  the  herald  of  antiquity; 
receiving  from  the  voice  of  the  orator  alone  her  credentials  to 
immortality.24 

....  Nothing  attracts  so  much  attention,  or  retains  such  a  hold 
upon  men's  memories,  as  the  occasion  when  you  have  made  a  mis- 
take.25 

....  Nothing  is  more  rarely  found  among  men  than  a  consum- 
mate orator.26 

But  the  most  important  chapter  in  De  Oratore  rep-  An  excursion 
resents  an  excursion  made  by  Cicero  into  the  domain  ^a°n  Jf  j  °w 
of  law.  Putting  aside  the  art  of  rhetoric  he  gives  us  a 
graphic  and  detailed  description  of  his  ideal  of  a  com- 
prehensive and  philosophic  treatise  upon  the  entire  body 
of  Roman  law,  which  he  said  he  hoped  would  be  written 
either  by  his  own  or  some  other  hand.  That  remarkable 
chapter,  to  which  due  attention  has  never  been  given  here- 
tofore, and  which  defies  abridgment,  is  as  follows: 

The  knowledge  of  almost  all  the  things,  which  are  now  reduced 
to  sciences,  was  once  scattered  and  dispersed;  for  instance,  in 
music,  rhythm,  pitch,  and  melody;  in  geometry,  lines,  figures, 
distances,  and  magnitudes;  in  astronomy,  the  revolutions  of  the 
heavens,  the  risings,  settings,  and  movements  of  the  stars;  in  the 

21  De  Orat.,  iii,  59.  24  Ibid.,  ii,  9. 

22  Ibid.,  iii,  41.  25  Ibid.,  i,  28. 

23  Ibid.,  ii,  83.  26  Ibid.,  i,  28. 


336 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero  first 
to  define  the 
science  of  ju- 
risprudence. 


Essence 
of  Cicero's 
unexecuted 
plan. 


study  of  literature,  the  handling  of  the  poets,  the  knowledge  of 
history,  the  explanation  of  words,  viz.  etymology  and  grammar, 
the  sounds  to  be  pronounced;  finally,  in  this  very  art  of  rhetoric 
of  which  we  are  talking,  the  invention,  expression,  arrangement, 
memorizing,  and  delivery  seem  to  have  been  at  one  time  unknown 
to  all,  or  at  least  the  knowledge  of  them  seems  to  have  been 
entirely  unconnected. 

Therefore  there  was  applied  from  without  a  science  of  a  differ- 
ent genus,  which  the  philosophers  claim  as  entirely  their  own,  a 
science  of  such  a  nature  as  to  bind  by  a  system  the  parts  of  a  sub- 
ject hitherto  unconnected  or  even  torn  apart.27  Therefore  let  u 
take  the  final  end  of  the  jus  civile  to  be  this,  the  preservation  in 
the  dealings  and  disputes  of  citizens  of  an  equity  based  on  law 
and  custom.  Then  its  genera  must  be  reduced  to  a  fixed  number 
and  one  as  small  as  possible.  A  genus  is  that  which  embraces 
two  or  more  divisions  [partes]  alike  in  possessing  certain  qualitie 
in  common  but  differing  in  species.  The  divisions  are  subordinate 
to  the  genera  from  which  they  proceed,  and  the  force  possessed  by 
all  names  of  the  genera  and  divisions  must  be  set  forth  in  defini- 
tions. A  definition  is  a  brief  but  comprehensive  statement  of 
those  great  qualities  which  are  peculiar  to  the  thing  we  wish  to 
define.  To  this  I  should  add  examples  were  I  not  well  acquainted 
with  my  hearers.  As  it  is,  I  shall  put  into  words  what  I  have 
proposed.  If  I  should  be  permitted  to  do  what  I  have  long  been 
planning,  or  if  somebody  else  should  undertake  the  task  while  I 
am  otherwise  engaged,  or  accomplish  it  after  my  death  —  as  soon 
as  some  one  shall  divide  the  whole  jus  civile  into  its  genera,  which 
are  very  few,  next  distribute  what  we  may  call  the  numbers  of 
these  genera,  and  then  set  forth  in  definitions  the  proper  force 
of  each  [term  employed],  you  will  have  a  perfected  science  of  the 
jus  civile,  large  and  full  indeed,  but  neither  difficult  nor  obscure. 
In  the  meantime,  while  the  scattered  fragments  are  being  com- 
bined, a  person  may  get  a  truly  scientific  knowledge  of  civil  law 
[justa  juris  civilis  sciential,  if  he  will  only  cull  and  gather  what 
he  can  here,  there,  and  everywhere.28 

27  "Adhibita  est  igitur  ars  quaedam  extrinsecus  ex  alio  genere  quodarn; 
quod  sibi  totum  philosophi  adsumunt,  quae  rem  dissolutam  divolsamque 
conglutinaret  et  ratione  quadam  constringeret." 

28  De  Oral.,  i,  42.      * 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  337 

Where  in  the  juristic  literature  of  our  own  time  can 
be  found  a  description  of  what  is  now  known  as  the 
philosophy  of  law,  the  science  of  jurisprudence,  more 
terse  and  lucid  than  that  contained  in  the  italicized  por- 
tion of  this  chapter?29  It  is  impossible,  however,  to  dis- 
sociate this  attempt,  no  doubt  the  first  attempt,  to  de- 
scribe a  philosophy  of  law,  from  the  work  done  by 
Cicero's  second  law  teacher,  Scaevola,  the  younger,  of  Work  of 
whose  famous  treatise  on  the  jus  civile  a  somewhat  ex-     caevo  a> 

'  the  younger. 

tended  account  has  been  given  already.30 

Some  reference  should  here  be  made  to  the  extended 
dissertation  contained  in  the  second  book  of  the  De  Ora- 
tor e  (chaps,  xliv— Ixxi)  upon  the  kinds  and  uses  of  wit  and  Kinds  and 
the  limitations  that  should  be  imposed  upon  its  use. 

A  jocose  manner,  too,  and  strokes  of  wit,  give  pleasure  to  an 
audience,  and  are  often  of  great  advantage  to  the  speaker;  qual- 
ities which,  even  if  everything  else  can  be  taught  by  art,  are  cer-  , 
tainly  peculiar  gifts  of  nature,  and  require  no  aid  from  instruc- 
tion. In  that  department  you,  Caesar,  in  my  opinion,  far  excel 
all  other  men ;  on  which  account  you  can  better  bear  me  testimony, 
either  that  there  is  no  art  in  wit,  or,  if  there  be  any  you  will  best 
instruct  us  in  it. 

Indeed  [says  Caesar]  think  that  a  man  who  is  not  destitute  of 
polite  learning  can  discourse  upon  any  subject  more  wittily  than 

upon  wit  itself I  found,  it  is  true,  many  laughable  and 

witty  sayings  of  the  Greeks;  for  those  of  Sicily  excel  in  that  way, 
as  well  as  the  Rhodians  and  Byzantines ;  but,  above  all,  the  people 
of  Attica.     But  they  who  have  attempted  to  deliver  rules  and   Impossible 
principles  on  that  subject,  have  shown   themselves  so  extremely   to  make 
foolish  that  nothing  else  in  them  has  excited  laughter  but  their   sub:ect# 
folly.     This  talent,  therefore,  appears  to  me  incapable  of  being 
communicated  by  teaching.     As  there  are  two  kinds  of  wit,  one 
running  regularly  through  a  whole  speech,  the  other  pointed  and 

29  See  the  author's  Science  of  Jurisprudence,  pp.  37-40. 

30  See  above,  p.  72. 


338 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Nature  of 
laughter. 


The 

thought  and 
language  in 
conj  unction. 


concise,  the  ancients  denominated  the  former  humor  [cavillatio], 
the  latter  jesting.31 

In  attempting  to  explain  the  nature  of  laughter  Cicero 
says: 

Concerning  laughter,  there  are  five  things  which  are  subjects  of 
consideration:  One,  "What  it  is";  another,  "Whence  it  origi- 
nates"; a  third,  "Whether  it  becomes  the  orator  to  wish  to  excite 
laughter";  a  fourth,  "To  what  degree";  a  fifth,  "What  are  the 
several  kinds  of  the  ridiculous?"  As  to  the  first,  "What  laughter 
itself  is,"  by  what  means  it  is  excited,  where  it  lies,  how  it  arises, 
and  bursts  forth  so  suddenly  that  we  are  unable,  though  we  desire, 
to  restrain  it,  and  how  it  affects  at  once  the  sides,  the  face,  the  : 
veins,  the  countenance,  and  eyes,  let  Democritus  consider;  for  all 
this  has  nothing  to  do  with  my  remarks,  and  if  it  had  to  do  with 
them,  I  should  not  be  ashamed  to  say  that  I  am  ignorant  of  that 
which  not  even  they  understand  who  profess  to  explain  it.32 

A  little  later  on  we  are  asked  to  — 

....  consider  briefly  the  sorts  of  jests  that  chiefly  excite  laughter. 
Let  this,  then,  be  our  first  division,  that  whatever  is  expressed 
wittily,  consists  sometimes  in  a  thought,  sometimes  in  the  mere 
language,  but  that  men  are  most  delighted  with  a  joke  when  the 
laugh  is  raised  by  the  thought  and  the  language  in  conjunction. 
....  The  old  saying  of  Nero  about  a  thieving  servant  is  humor 
ous  enough,  that  he  was  the  only  one  from  whom  nothing  in  the 
house  was  sealed  and  locked  up;  a  thing  which  is  not  only  said1 
of  a  good  servant,  but  in  the  very  same  words. 


In  Orator  we  are  told  — 


....  that  the  orator  ought  to  use  ridicule  in  such  a  way  as 
neither  to  indulge  in  it  too  often,  that  it  may  not  seem  like  buf 
foonery;  nor  in  a  covertly,  obscure  manner,  that  it  may  not  seem 
like  the  wit  of  a  comedian ;  nor  in  a  petulant  manner,  lest  it  should 
seem  spiteful;  nor  should  he  ridicule  calamity,  lest  that  shou 
seem  inhuman;  nor  crime,  lest  laughter  should  usurp  the  pla 
which  hatred  ought  to  occupy ;  nor  should  he  employ  this  weapoj 
si  De  Orat,  ii,  54.  32  Ibid.,  ii,  58. 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  339 

when  unsuitable  to  his  own  character,  or  to  that  of  the  judges, 
or  to  the  time;  for  all  such  conduct  would  come  under  the  head 
of  the  unbecoming.33 

When  we  inquire  as  to  the  manner  in  which  he  applied 
his  rules  in  the  actual  practice  of  the  art  of  oratory,  we 
have   the   words   of   Plutarch   who,    in    reproducing   no    Comments  of 
doubt    the    statements    of    some    well-informed    earlier   Q^l"ina^n 

author,  says:  on  Cicero's 

manner. 
Cicero's  manner  of  delivery  contributed  much  to  his  persuasive- 
ness, and  he  would  ridicule  orators  that  spoke  with  a  loud  voice, 
saying  that  on  account  of  weakness  they  had  recourse  to  shouting, 
just  as  lame  men  take  to  riding  horseback.  The  readiness  and 
sharpness  of  such  wit  seemed  clever  and  well  suited  to  the  courts, 
but  by  giving  it  too  free  exercise  he  hurt  the  feelings  of  many  and 
gained  the  reputation  of  being  malicious.34 

Quintilian,  after  declaring  that  Cicero  was  too  much 
given  to  raising  a  laugh,  in  the  courts  and  outside  of  them, 
says: 

Whether  I  am  judging  rightly  or  whether  I  am  led  astray  by 
too  great  love  of  the  consummate  master  of  eloquence,  there  was 
in  him  a  marvelous  vein  of  wit;  for  his  ordinary  conversation 
abounded  in  pleasantry,  while  in  disputes  and  in  examining  wit- 
nesses he  uttered  more  witticisms  than  any  other  orator,  and  he 
credits  to  others  the  dull  jests  in  the  process  against  Verres,  intro- 
ducing them  as  evidence,  so  that  the  more  commonplace  they  are 
the  easier  it  is  to  believe  that  they  were  not  original  with  him 
but  were  really  already  current.35 

An  indication  as  to  the  "proper  time,  moderation,  and  Moderation 
forbearance"  to  be  observed  in  jesting  is  given  in  con-  andfor|>ear- 

'  00  ance  to  be 

nection  with  the  story  of  a  certain  Appius,  who  said  to  observed. 
Caius  Sextius,  an  acquaintance  who  was  blind  in  one  eye: 
"I  will  dine  with  you  tonight  as  I  see  there  is  a  vacancy 
for  one."     Cicero  condemned  the  jest  of  Appius  as  scur- 

33  Ad  Brut.  Oral.,  26.      34  Plut.,  Cic,  9.      35  Quint,  Inst.  Orat.,  vi,  3,  3. 


34Q 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Typical 
witticisms 
attributed  to 
Cicero. 


rilous  because  evidently  premeditated  and  calculated  to 
give  needless  pain,  and  at  the  same  time  commended  the 
apt  reply  of  Sextius,  who  said  instantly:  "Wash  your 
hands  and  come  to  dinner."36  Cicero  was,  however,  as 
brutal  as  Appius  when  the  crippled  Vatinius,  evidently 
expecting  a  compliment,  told  him  that  he  was  now  walk- 
ing two  miles  a  day.  aOf  course,"  the  orator  replied, 
"the  days  are  longer."37 

When,  through  Caesar's  favor,  Vatinius,  at  the  end  of 
the  year  47  B.C.,  was  raised  to  the  consulship  for  a  few 
days  to  fill  a  vacancy,  Cicero  said  that  a  wonderful  thing 
had  happened  in  the  year  of  Vatinius,  because  in  that 
consulship  there  was  neither  spring,  summer,  autumn,  or 
winter;  and  when  Vatinius  complained  that  he  had  re- 
ceived no  visit  from  him,  Cicero  apologized  by  saying, 
"I  wished  to  come  in  your  consulship,  but  the  night  over- 
took me."  When  Q.  Fabius  Maximus  the  consul  died 
on  the  last  day  of  December,  45  B.C.,  and  Caesar  had 
Caninius  Rebilus  elected  and  installed  to  fill  the  vacancy 
during  the  few  remaining  hours  of  the  day,  Cicero  made 
merry  over  the  event,  saying:  "We  have  a  watchful 
consul  in  Caninius ;  during  his  consulship  he  did  not  sleep 
a  wink."  According  to  Plutarch,  when  Munatius,  who 
had  escaped  conviction  through  Cicero's  advocacy,  imme- 
diately prosecuted  his  friend  Sabinus,  he  said  in  the 
warmth  of  his  resentment,  "Do  you  suppose  you  were 
acquitted  for  your  own  merits,  Munatius,  and  that  it 
was  not  that  I  so  darkened  the  case  that  the  court  could 
not  see  your  guilt?"  And  in  the  same  vein,  when  from 
the  Rostra  he  had  eulogized  Marcus  Crassus,  with  much 
applause,  and  within  a  few  days  afterwards  as  publicly 

30  De  Orat.,  ii,  60.    That  is  taken  as  an  indication  that  he  was  either 
unclean  or  dishonest. 

37  Quint.,  Inst.  Orat.,  vi,  3,  77. 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  341 

reproached  him,  Crassus  called  out  to  him  and  said,  "Did 
not  you  yourself  two  days  ago  in  this  same  place  com- 
mend me?"  "Yes,"  the  orator  replied,  "I  exercised  my 
eloquence  in  declaiming  upon  a  bad  subject." 

Another  time  Crassus  had  said  that  no  one  of  his  fam- 
ily had  ever  lived  beyond  sixty  years  of  age,  and  after- 
wards denied  it,  and  asked,  "What  should  put  it  into  my 
head  to  say  so?"  "It  was  to  gain  the  people's  favor,"  an- 
swered Cicero,  "You  knew  how  glad  they  would  be  to 
hear  it."  And  when  Crassus  expressed  his  admiration  of 
the  Stoic  doctrine,  that  the  good  man  is  always  rich, 
"Do  you  not  mean,"  said  Cicero,  "their  doctrine  that  all 
things  belong  to  the  wise?"  Crassus  being  generally 
accused  of  covetousness. 

After  one  of  Crassus's  sons,  who  was  thought  so  very 
like  a  man  of  the  name  of  Axius  as  to  throw  some  suspi- 
cion on  his  mother's  honor,  had  made  a  successful  speech 
in  the  Senate,  Cicero,  when  asked  how  he  liked  it,  replied 
with  the  Greek  words,  Axios  Crassou.  To  Metellus 
Nepos,  who,  in  a  dispute  between  them,  repeated  several 
times,  "Who  was  your  father,  Cicero?"  he  replied, 
"Your  mother  has  made  the  answer  to  such  a  question  in 
your  case  more  difficult."  When  Vatinius,  who  had 
swellings  in  his  neck,  was  pleading  a  cause,  Cicero  called 
him  the  tumid  orator;  and  having  been  told  by  someone 
that  Vatinius  was  dead,  on  hearing  presently  after  that  he 
was  alive,  "May  the  rascal  perish,"  said  he,  "for  his  news 
not  being  true." 

When  Caesar  proposed  in  the  Senate  a  law  for  the  divi- 
sion of  the  lands  in  Campania  among  the  soldiers,  many 
opposed  it;  and  among  them  Gellius,  one  of  the  oldest 
members  of  the  body,  who  said  it  should  never  pass  while 
he  lived.    "Let  us  then  postpone  it,"  said  Cicero ;  "Gellius 


342  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

does  not  ask  us  to  wait  long."  When  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Octavius,  suspected  to  be  of  African  descent,  com- 
plained, while  Cicero  was  pleading,  that  he  could  not 
hear  him,  the  orator  retorted:  "Yet  there  are  holes  in 
your  ears."  To  a  young  man  who  was  suspected  of 
having  given  a  poisoned  cake  to  his  father,  and  who 
talked  largely  of  the  invectives  he  meant  to  deliver 
against  Cicero,  "Better  these,"  he  replied,  "than  your 
cakes." 

Lucius  Cotta,  an  intemperate  lover  of  wine,  was  censor 
when  Cicero  stood  for  the  consulship.  Becoming  thirsty 
at  the  election,  his  friends  stood  around  him  while  he 
was  drinking.  "You  have  reason  to  be  afraid,"  the  can- 
didate said,  "lest  the  censor  should  be  angry  with  me  for 
drinking  water."  Meeting  one  day  Voconius  with  his 
three  very  ugly  daughters,  he  quoted  the  verse,  "He 
reared  a  race  without  Apollo's  leave."  When  Gellius, 
who  was  said  to  be  the  son  of  a  slave,  had  read  sev- 
eral letters  to  the  Senate  in  a  very  shrill  and  loud 
voice,  "Wonder  not,"  said  Cicero,  "he  comes  of  the 
criers." 

When  Faustus  Sulla,  the  son  of  the  dictator  who  had 
by  his  public  bills  proscribed  and  condemned  so  many  to 
death,  had  so  far  wasted  his  estate  as  to  be  forced  to 
publish  his  bills  of  sale,  Cicero  told  him  that  he  liked  his 
bills  much  better  than  those  of  his  father. 

When  Metellus  Nepos  told  him  that  he  had  ruined 
more  as  a  witness  than  he  had  saved  as  an  advocate,  "I 
admit,"  said  Cicero,  "that  I  have  more  truth  than  elo- 
quence." Publius  Sextius,  after  having  retained  Cicero 
among  others  as  his  advocate  in  a  certain  cause,  was  still 
desirous  to  say  all  for  himself,  and  would  not  allow 
anybody  to   speak   for   him.      When   he   was   about   to 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  343 

receive  his  acquittal  from  the  judges,  and  the  ballots 
were  passing,  Cicero  called  out  to  him,  "Make  haste, 
Sextius,  and  use  your  time;  tomorrow  you  will  be 
nobody." 

On  a  certain  occasion  he  cited  as  a  witness  Publius 
Cotta,  who  affected  to  be  thought  a  lawyer  though  igno- 
rant and  unlearned.  After  he  had  said,  "I  know  nothing 
of  the  matter,"  Cicero  answered,  "You  think,  perhaps,  we 
are  asking  you  about  a  point  of  law."  It  was  well  known 
that  Hortensius,  who  defended  Verres,  had  received  a 
famous  ivory  sphinx  as  a  part  of  his  reward.  So  after  the 
prosecutor  in  some  part  of  his  speech,  by  a  dark  hint,  had 
indirectly  reflected  upon  him  in  such  a  way  as  to  prompt 
Hortensius  to  say  that  he  was  not  skilful  in  solving  rid- 
dles, "No,"  said  Cicero,  "and  yet  you  have  the  Sphinx  in 
your  house." 

While  Quintus  Cicero,  very  small  in  stature,  was  in  the 
province  of  Asia,  of  which  he  was  governor,  a  half- 
length  portrait  was  painted  representing  him  as  of  heroic 
size.  When  Cicero  saw  it,  he  exclaimed,  "The  half  of 
my  brother  is  greater  than  the  whole."  One  day  when 
he  was  dining  out,  his  host,  Damasippus,  had  some  in- 
ferior wine  brought  in,  saying  at  the  same  time,  "Drink 
this  Falernian,  it's  forty  years  old."  As  he  sipped  it, 
Cicero  remarked,  "It  bears  its  age  well."  A  native  of 
Laodicea  who  had  come  to  Caesar,  then  at  the  height  of 
his  power,  as  an  envoy  on  behalf  of  the  liberty  of  his 
state,  met  Cicero,  who  said,  "If  you  happen  to  find  it, 
act  as  envoy  for  us  also."  When  he  was  requested  to  aid 
a  friend  to  secure  a  seat  in  the  council  of  a  municipal 
town,  having  in  mind  the  strange  elements  introduced 
by  Caesar  into  the  Senate*  at  Rome,  he  replied,  "The 
man  shall  have  what  you  ask  at  Rome,  if  you  like,  but 


144 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Brutus 
de  Claris 
Oratoribus. 


Sketches  of 
all  the  fa- 
mous orators 
of  Greece 
and  Rome. 


Country  no 
longer  sup- 
ported by  the 
talents,  wis- 
dom, and 
authority 
of  law. 


it   is   a    difficult   matter   to   secure    such    a    privilege    at 
Pompeii."  38 

Nearly  ten  years  divide  the  conversations  under  the 
plane  tree  at  Tusculum  from  the  dialogues  of  Atticus, 
Brutus,  and  Cicero  himself,  on  a  grass  plot,  in  front  of 
a  colonnade,  attached  to  the  house  of  the  latter  at  Rome, 
with  a  statue  of  Plato  nearby,  generally  entitled  Brutus 
de  Claris  Oratoribus.  Great  changes  had  taken  place  in 
the  meantime.  Caesar,  already  master  of  the  state,  was 
campaigning  in  Africa  against  the  king  of  Numidia  and 
the  remnants  of  the  oligarchy,  when,  in  46  B.C.,  Cicero 
published,  as  a  dialogue  in  the  style  of  Aristotle,  the  his- 
tory of  eloquence,  containing  graphic  sketches  of  all  the 
famous  speakers  of  Greece  and  Rome  down  to  his  own 
time.  As  the  living  were  excluded,  the  line  ends  with  the 
great  Hortensius,  whom  Cicero  had  heard  with  admira- 
tion as  a  youth  and  rivaled  as  a  man.  At  the  outset  he 
says: 

If  Hortensius  were  now  living,  he  would  probably  regret  many 
other  advantages  common  with  his  worthy  fellow-citizens.  But 
when  he  beheld  the  Forum,  the  great  theatre  in  which  he  was 
accustomed  to  exercise  his  genius,  no  longer  accessible  to  that 
finished  eloquence  which  could  charm  the  ears  of  a  Roman  or 
Grecian  audience,  he  must  have  felt  a  pang  of  which  none,  or  at 
least  but  few,  besides  himself  could  be  susceptible.  Even  I  indulge 
heartfelt  anguish  when  I  behold  my  country  no  longer  supported 
by  the  talents,  the  wisdom,  and  the  authority  of  law  —  the  only 
weapons  which  I  have  learned  to  wield,  and  which  are  most  suit- 
able to  the  character  of  an  illustrious  citizen,  and  of  a  virtuous 
and  well-regulated  state.  But  if  there  ever  was  a  time  when  the 
authority    and    eloquence    of    an    honest    individual    could    have 

38  The  statement  has  been  made  heretofore  (see  above,  p.  18)  that  fifty 
or  more  of  the  witticisms  attributed  to  Cicero,  but  not  found  in  his  works, 
have  been  preserved  by  Plutarch,  Quintilian,  and  Macrobius  and  conve- 
niently assembled  in  the  fragmenta  in  the  editions  of  Cicero's  works  by 
Baiter  and  Kayser  (vol.  xi)  and  C.  F.  W.  Mueller  (Pt.  iv,  vol.  iii). 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC 


345 


wrested  their  arms  from  the  hands  of  his  distracted  fellow  citizens, 
it  was  then  when  the  proposal  of  a  compromise  of  our  mutual 
differences  was  rejected,  by  the  hasty  imprudence  of  some  and 
the  timorous  mistrust  of  others. 

Thus  it  happened,  among  other  misfortunes  of  a  more  deplora- 
ble nature,  that  when  my  declining  age,  after  a  life  spent  in  the 
service  of  the  public,  should  have  reposed  in  the  peaceful  harbor, 
not  of  an  indolent  and  total  inactivity,  but  of  a  moderate  and 
honorable  retirement,  and  when  my  eloquence  was  properly  mel- 
lowed and  had  acquired  its  full  maturity  —  thus  it  happened,  I 
say,  that  recourse  was  then  had  to  those  fatal  arms,  which  the 
persons  who  had  learned  the  use  of  them  in  honorable  conquest 
could  no  longer  employ  to  any  salutary  purpose.  Those,  there- 
fore, appear  to  me  to  have  enjoyed  a  fortunate,  and  happy  life 
(of  which  state  they  were  members,  but  especially  in  ours),  who, 
together  with  their  authority  and  reputation,  either  for  their  mili- 
tary or  political  services,  are  allowed  to  enjoy  the  advantages  of 
philosophy;  and  the  sole  remembrance  of  them,  in  our  present 
melancholy  situation,  was  a  pleasing  relief  to  me,  when  we  lately 
happened  to  mention  them  in  the  course  of  conversation.39 

In  describing  the  condition  of  things  existing  when  he 
went  to  the  bar,  Cicero  says : 

Hortensius  joined  the  army,  and  served  the  first  campaign  as  Condition  of 
a  volunteer,  and  the  second  as  a  military  tribune;  Sulpicius  was 
made  a  lieutenant-general;  and  Antonius  was  absent  on  a  similar 
account.  The  only  trial  we  had  was  that  upon  the  Varian  law; 
the  rest,  as  I  have  just  observed,  having  been  intermitted  by  the 
war.  We  had  scarcely  anybody  left  at  the  bar  but  Lucius  Mem- 
mius  and  Quintus  Pompeius,  who  spoke  mostly  on  their  own 
affairs;  and,  though  far  from  being  orators  of  the  first  distinction, 

were  yet  tolerable  ones Caius  Julius  too,  who  was  then  a 

curule  aedile,  was  daily  employed  in  making  speeches  to  the 
people,  which  were  composed  with  great  neatness  and  accuracy. 
But  while  I  attended  the  Forum  with  this  eager  curiosity,  my 
first  disappointment  was  the  banishment  of  Cotta;  after  which  I 
continued  to  hear  the  rest  with  the  same  assiduity  as  before;  and, 


things  when 
Cicero  went 
to  the  bar. 


39  Brut,  2. 


346 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Ridicule  of 
Curio. 


Lament  over 
the  clouded 
future  of 
Brutus. 


though  I  daily  spent  the  remainder  of  my  time  in  reading,  writing, 
and  private  declamation,  I  can  not  say  that  I  much  relished  my 
confinement  to  these  preparatory  exercises.40 

In  commenting  on  Curio  he  says: 

The  two  remaining  parts  are,  pronunciation  and  memory;  in 
each  of  which  he  was  so  miserably  defective  as  to  excite  the  laugh- 
ter and  ridicule  of  his  hearers.  His  gesture  was  really  such,  as 
Caius  Julius  represented  it,  in  a  severe  sarcasm,  that  will  never 
be  forgotten;  for  as  he  was  swaying  and  reeling  his  whole  body 
from  side  to  side,  Julius  facetiously  inquired  who  it  was  that  was 
speaking  from  a  boat?  To  the  same  purpose  was  the  jest  of 
Cnaeus  Sicinius,  a  man  very  vulgar,  but  exceedingly  humorous, 
which  was  the  only  qualification  he  had  to  recommend  him  as  an 
orator.  When  this  man,  as  a  tribune  of  the  people,  had  sum- 
moned Curio  and  Octavius,  who  were  then  consuls,  into  the 
Forum,  and  Curio  had  delivered  a  tedious  harangue,  while  Octa- 
vius sat  silently  by  him,  wrapt  up  in  flannels  and  besmeared  with 
ointments,  to  ease  the  pain  of  the  gout,  "Octavius,"  said  he,  "you 
are  infinitely  obliged  to  your  colleague;  for  if  he  had  not  tossed 
and  flung  himself  about  today,  in  the  manner  he  did,  you  would 
certainly  have  been  devoured  by  the  flies."  41 

And  yet,  despite  a  few  such  sallies,  the  undertone  of 
it  all  is  one  of  inexpressible  sadness.    At  the  close  he  says : 

But  when  I  look  upon  you,  my  Brutus,  it  fills  me  with  anguish 
to  reflect  that,  in  the  vigor  of  your  youth,  and  when  you  were 
making  the  most  rapid  progress  on  the  road  to  fame,  your  career 
was  suddenly  cut  off  by  the  fatal  overthrow  of  the  Common- 
wealth. This  unhappy  circumstance  has  stung  me  to  the  heart; 
and  not  me  only,  but  my  worthy  friend  here,  who  has  the  same 
affection  for  you  and  the  same  esteem  for  your  merit  which  I 

have For  the   Forum   was   your  birthright,   your  native 

theatre  of  action;  and  you  were  the  only  person  that  entered  it, 
who  had  not  only  formed  his  elocution  by  a  vigorous  course  of 
private  practice,  but  enriched  his  oratory  with  the  furniture  of 
philosophical  science,  and  thus  united  the  highest  virtue  to  the 
40  Brut.,  89.  41  Ibid.,  60. 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  347 

most  consummate  eloquence.  Your  situation,  therefore,  wounds 
us  with  the  double  anxiety  that  you  are  deprived  of  the  Republic 
and  the  Republic  of  you. 

But  still  continue,  my  Brutus  (notwithstanding  the  career  of 
your  genius  has  been  checked  by  the  rude  shock  of  our  public 
distresses),  continue  to  pursue  your  favorite  studies,  and  endeavor 
(what  you  have  almost  or  rather  entirely  effected  already)  to 
distinguish  yourself  from  the  promiscuous  crowd  of  pleaders  with 

which  I  have  loaded  the  little  history  I  have  given  you 

Have  we  not  seen  that  a  whole  age  could  scarcely  furnish  two 

speakers  who  really  excelled  in  their  profession  ?     Among  a  crowd 

of  contemporaries,  Galba,  for  instance,  was  the  only  orator  of    Galba  and 

distinction;  for  old  Cato  (we  are  informed)  was  obliged  to  yield    Cato- 

to  his  superior  merit,  as  were  likewise  his  two  juniors,  Lepidus 

and  Carbo.   But,  in  a  public  harangue,  the  style  of  his  successors, 

the  Gracchi  was  far  more  easy  and  lively;  and  yet,  even  in  their 

time,  Roman  eloquence  had  not  reached  its  perfection.42 

In  speaking  of  Caius  Gracchus  as  an  orator  he  said:  Caius 

Gracchus. 
He  had  an  amazing  genius,  and  the  most  ardent  application; 

and  was  a  scholar  from  his  very  childhood ;  for  you  must  not  imag- 
ine, my  Brutus,  that  we  have  ever  yet  had  a  speaker  whose  language 
was  richer  and  more  copious  than  his.  "I  really  think  so,"  an- 
swered Brutus;  "and  he  is  almost  the  only  author  we  have,  among 
the  ancients,  that  I  take  the  trouble  to  read."  "And  he  well 
deserves  it,"  said  I ;  "for  the  Roman  name  and  literature  were 
great  losers  by  his  untimely  fate.  I  wish  he  had  transferred  his 
affection  for  his  brother  to  his  country.  How  easily,  if  he  had 
thus  prolonged  his  life,  would  he  have  rivaled  the  glory  of  his 
father  and  grand-father!  In  eloquence,  I  scarcely  know  whether 
we  should  yet  have  had  his  equal.  His  language  was  noble;  his 
•sentiments  manly  and  judicious;  and  his  whole  manner  great  and 
striking.  He  wanted  nothing  but  the  finishing  touch:  for  though 
his  first  attempts  were  as  excellent  as  they  were  numerous,  he 
did  not  live  to  complete  them.43 

Apart  from  the  pen-pictures  of  the  most  famous  of 
the  Greek  models,  this  discourse,  in  which  the  chief  inter- 

42  Brut.,  97.  43  Ibid.,  33. 


348 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


A  concealed 
epitome  of 
the  history 
of  Rome. 


Ad  Brutum 
Orator. 


The  perfect 
orator. 


locutor  is  almost  exclusively  heard,  bristles  with  striking 
observations  on  the  scientific  principles  of  the  oratorical 
art,  illustrating  at  the  same  time  the  public  life  and  serv- 
ices of  the  actors  dealt  with.  As  a  valuable  contribution 
to  the  history  of  literature,  as  a  concealed  epitome  of 
the  history  of  Rome,  the  work  is  marked  by  the  rare  taste 
and  discrimination  with  which  it  emphasizes  the  imper- 
fections of  the  various  forms  of  composition  it  reviews. 
Its  greatest  defect  consists  in  the  indistinctness  of  the 
impressions  left  upon  the  mind  by  sketches  necessarily 
imperfect  by  reason  of  the  rapidity  with  which  the  writer 
is  compelled  to  fly  from  one  individual  to  another  in  a 
list  too  long  for  his  space. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  year  45  B.C.,  Cicero44  pro- 
duced Ad  Brutum  Orator,  the  last  of  the  series,  beginning 
with  De  Oratore,  on  the  character  of  the  orator,  setting 
forth  the  principles  and  rules  of  the  art,  and  the  quali- 
fications, natural  and  acquired,  necessary  for  success  in 
it,  which  was  followed  by  Brutus  de  Claris  Oratoribus, 
remarks  on  eminent  orators,  in  which  the  use  and  appli- 
cation of  the  principles  and  rules  are  illustrated  through 
a  critical  examination  of  the  merits  and  defects  of  thost 
who  have  actually  practiced  the  art. 

Then,  as  the  capstone  of  it  all,  Cicero,  at  the  request 
of  Brutus,  attempted,  in  Ad  Brutum  Orator,  to  define  the 
perfect  orator  who  is  supposed  to  be  adorned  by  all  the 
personal  qualifications  an  orator  should  possess,  coupled 
with  a  complete  knowledge  of  everything  on  the  scientific 
side  of  the  subject.  The  ideal  of  a  faultless  public  speaker 
in  senate  or  forum  thus  presented,  while  not  actually  ex- 
isting, is  a  possible  outcome  of  a  union  of  the  highest 

44  He  says,  "Therefore  I  began  this  work  so  soon  as  I  had  finished  my 


Cato. 


Ad  Brut.  Orat.,  10. 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  349 

natural  gifts  with  the  most  perfect  culture.  Upon  that 
creation  of  his  fancy  Cicero  says  he  is  willing  to  stake 
his  reputation  for  knowledge  and  taste  in  his  art45  In 
defining  his  ideal  he  says: 

And  I,  in  depicting  a  consummate  orator,  will  draw  a  picture  of  Author 
such  an  one  as  perhaps  never  existed.  For  I  am  not  asking  who  defines  his 
he  was,  but  what  that  is  than  which  nothing  can  be  more  excel- 
lent. And  perhaps  the  perfection  which  I  am  looking  for  does 
not  often  shine  forth  (indeed  I  do  not  know  whether  it  ever  has 
been  seen)  but  still  in  some  degree  it  may  at  times  be  discoverable, 
among  some  nations  more  sparingly.  But  I  lay  down  this  position, 
that  there  is  nothing  of  any  kind  so  beautiful  which  has  not  some- 
thing more  beautiful  still  from  which  it  is  copied  —  as  a  portrait  is 
from  a  person's  face  —  though  it  can  neither  be  perceived  by  the 
eyes  or  ears,  or  by  any  other  of  the  senses;  it  is  in  the  mind  only 
and  by  our  thoughts,  that  we  embrace  it. 

Therefore,  though  we  have  never  seen  anything  of  any  kind 
more  beautiful  than  the  statutes  of  Phidias,  and  than  those  pictures 
which  I  have  named,  still  we  can  imagine  something  more  beau- 
tiful. Nor  did  that  great  artist,  when  he  was  making  the  statue 
of  Jupiter  or  of  Minerva,  keep  in  his  mind  any  particular  person 
of  whom  he  was  making  a  likeness ;  but  there  dwelt  in  his  mind  a 
certain  perfect  idea  of  beauty  which  he  looked  upon,  and  fixed  his 
eyes  upon,  and  guided  his  art  and  his  hand  with  reference  to  the 
likeness  of  that  model.46 

Referring  to  the  Greek  orators  he  says: 

It  is  a  marvelous  thing  how  far  one  is  superior  to  all  the  rest. 

And  yet  when  Demosthenes  flourished  there  were  many  illustri-    Pen-picture 

ous  orators,  and  so  there  were  before  his  time,  and  the  supply  has    of  Demos- 

thcncs. 
not  failed  since.    So  that  there  is  no  reason  why  the  hopes  of  those 

men,  who  have   devoted   themselves   to   the   study  of   eloquence, 

should  be  broken,  or  why  their  industry  should  languish.     For 

even  the  very  high  pitch  of  excellency  ought  not  to  be  despaired 

45  "Mihi  quidem  sic  persuadeo,  me  quidquid  habuerim  judicii  de  decendo 
in  ilium  librum  contulisse."    Ad  Fam.,  vi,  18. 

46  Ad  Brut.  Oral.,  2. 


35° 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


His  defense 
of  Ctesiphon. 


Criticisms  of 
Aeschines. 


The  real  At- 
tic manner. 


of;  and  in  perfect  things  those  things  are  very  good  which  are 
next  to  the  most  perfect 47 

Therefore  this  great  man  whom  we  call  so  superior  to 
all  the  rest,  in  that  oration  of  his  in  defense  of  Ctesiphon,  which 
is  by  far  the  finest  of  all  his  speeches,  begins  modestly  at  first; 
then  when  he  argues  about  the  laws  he  becomes  more  animated ; 
afterwards,  proceeding  gradually,  as  he  saw  the  judges  become 
excited,  he  gave  himself  more  license  and  spoke  with  more  bold- 
ness. And  yet  even  in  this  very  man,  so  carefully  weighing  the 
value  of  every  word,  Aeschines  finds  something  to  reprove  and  to 
attack  him  for ;  and,  laughing  at  him,  he  calls  them  terrible,  odious, 
and  intolerable  expressions. 

Moreover,  he  asks  him  (for  Demosthenes  had  called  him  a 
beast)  whether  those  are  words  or  prodigies;  so  that  even  Demos- 
thenes himself  does  not  seem  to  Aeschines  to  be  speaking  in  the 
pure  Attic  style.  For  it  is  easy  to  remark  some  impetuous  expres- 
sion, and  to  turn  it  into  ridicule  after  the  excitement  of  the  mind 
has  been  allayed.  And  accordingly  Demosthenes  defends  himself 
with  a  jest;  and  says  that  the  fortunes  of  Greece  do  not  depend 
upon  whether  he  used  this  word  or  that,  or  put  out  his  hand  in 
this  or  that  direction.  How,  then,  would  a  Mysian  or  a  Phrygian 
have  been  listened  to  at  Athens,  when  even  Demosthenes  is  at- 
tacked as  an  incorrect  speaker!  And  if  such  a  man  had  begun  to 
sing  in  his  trembling  and  whining  voice,  as  is  the  custom  of 
Asiatics,  who  would  have  endured  him?  or  who  would  not  have 
ordered  him  to  be  taken  away?48 

Those  people,  then,  who  adapt  themselves  to  the  refinec 
and  scrupulous  ears  of  an  Athenian  audience,  are  the  people  who 
deserve  to  be  considered  as  speaking  in  an  Attic  manner.  And 
though  there  are  many  kinds  of  orators  of  this  sort,  still  the  people 
among  us  who  affect  this  style  have  no  suspicion  of  the  existence 
of  more  than  one.  For  they  think  that  a  man  who  speaks  in 
brusque  and  fierce  manner,  provided  only  that  he  uses  elegant 
and  well-turned  expressions,  is  the  only  Attic  speaker. 

They  are  greatly  mistaken  if  they  think  that  the  only  Attic 

style,  though  not  mistaken  in  thinking  it  one  kind  of  Attic  style. 

For  if,  as  their  opinion  tends  to  prove,  that  is  the  only  Attic  style, 

47  Ad  Brut.  Orat.,  z.  48  Ibid.,  8. 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  351 

then  not  even  Pericles  himself  spoke  in  the  Attic  manner  —  a  man    Pericles 

who  is  beyond  all  question  in  the  very  highest  rank  as  an  orator.    andLysias- 

But  if  he  had  employed  only  a  neat,  simple  style  of  oratory,  he 

would  never  have  been  said  by  Aristophanes  the  poet,  to  thunder 

and  lighten,  and  throw  all  Greece  into  confusion.     Let,  then,  that 

most  beautiful  and  polished  orator,   Lysias,  be  said  to  speak  in 

Attic  style.     For  who  can  deny  it?49 

Such  were  the  efforts  made  in  this  idealization  to  com- 
bat the  popular  error  that  the  most  perfect  type  of  the 
true  Attic  style  consisted  of  terse,  subtle,  highly  polished, 
and  epigrammatic  sentences,  necessarily  dull  and  cold  to 
the  ear  of  the  ordinary  listener,  because  totally  devoid  of 
ornament  and  amplitude  of  expression  in  the  form  of 
measured  periods.  In  order  to  combat  that  illusion  in 
another  way,  Cicero  rendered  into  Latin  the  orations  of  Orations 
Demosthenes  and  Aeschines  in  the  case  of  Ctesiphon  as  ?.     emos" 

r  tnenes  and 

the  two  most  perfect  specimens  of  Grecian  eloquence.    Aeschines 
The   translation   itself  has  not   survived;   only   a   short   by  Cicero, 
preface   explaining   the   purpose   of   the   undertaking   is 
extant,  bearing  the  title  De  Optimo  Genere  Oratorum. 
In  that  composition  Cicero  says: 

As  there  is  but  one  kind  of  eloquence,  what  we  are  seeking  to    Extracts 
ascertain  is  what  kind  it  is.    And  it  is  such  as  flourished  at  Athens;    from  the 
and  in  which  the  genius  of  the  Attic  orators  is  hardly  compre-    preface 
hended  by  us,  though  their  glory  is  known  to  us.    For  many  have 
perceived  this  fact,  that  there  is  nothing  faulty  in  them:  few  have 
discovered  the  other  point;  namely,  how  much  in  them  there  is 
that  is  praiseworthy.    For  it  is  a  fault  in  a  sentence  if  anything  is 
absurd,  or  foreign  to  the  subject,  or  stupid  or  trivial;  and  it  is  a 
fault  of  language  if  anything  is  gross,  or  abject,  or  unsuitable,  or 
harsh,  or  far-fetched.     Nearly  all  those  men  who  are  either  con- 
sidered Attic  orators  or  who  speak  in  the  Attic  manner  have 
avoided  these  faults.50 

But  as  there  was  a  great  error  as  to  the  question,  what  kind  of 
49  Ad  Brut.  Orat.,  9.  50  De  Opt.,  3. 


352  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

eloquence  that  was,  I  have  thought  that  it  became  me  to  under- 
take a  labor  which  should  be  useful  to  studious  men,  though  super-  I 
fluous  as  far  as  I  myself  was  concerned.  For  I  have  translated  the 
most  famous  orations  of  the  two  most  eloquent  of  the  Attic  orators,  I 
spoken  in  opposition  to  one  another:  Aeschines  and  Demosthenes. 
....  And  this  labor  of  mine  will  have  this  effect,  that  by  it  our 
countrymen  may  understand  what  to  require  of  those  who  wish  to 
be  accounted  Attic  speakers,  and  that  they  may  recall  them  to,  as 
it  were,  the  acknowledged  standards  of  eloquence.51 

Cicero's  last  dissertation  on  the  theory  of  rhetoric  was 
composed  on  shipboard  while  sailing  towards  Greece 
during  the  summer  that  followed  Caesar's  death,  at  that 
fateful  time  when  the  wind  and  the  waves  forbade  his 
departure  from  his  native  land.  He  said  afterwards  in 
a  letter  to  a  friend: 

I,  despairing  of  freedom,  was  on  the  point  of  hurrying  away  to 
Greece,  when  the  Etesian  winds,  [trade  winds]  like  loyal  citizens, 
refused  to  further  me  in  my  desertion  of  the  Republic,  and  a  south 
wind  blowing  in  my  teeth  carried  me  back  by  his  strongest  blast 
to  your  fellow-tribesmen  of  Rhegium.  And  so  from  thence  I  hur- 
ried at  full  speed  —  sail  and  oar  together — to  my  country;  and 
the  day  after  my  arrival  was  the  one  free  man  in  a  nation  of 
slaves.52 

The  dissertation  then  written  on  shipboard  is  known 
Topka  ad  C.  as  Topica  ad  C.  Trebatium,  because  the  famous  juriscon-   I 
Trebatium.      su]t  Trebatius,  who  found  himself  unable  to  comprehend 
the  Topics  of  Aristotle  relating  to  the  invention  of  argu-  , 
ments,  had  appealed  to  Cicero  for  aid  in  that  regard,   j 
A  simple  ab-    The  response  was  an  abstract  of  the  original,  couched  in 
r™7Jofhe     plain  and  simple  terms,  and  accompanied  by  illustrations 
Aristotle.        derived  in  the  main  from  Roman  law  instead  of  Greek 
philosophy.    That  abstract,  which  he  promised  to  supple- 
81  De  opt,  5. 

*2Ad  Fam.,  xii,  25.  "The  one  free  man"  because  he  had  refused 
Antony's  summons  to  the  Senate  on  September  1. 


TREATISES  ON  RHETORIC  353 

ment  at  some  future  time  by  oral  explanations,  was  for- 
warded by  Cicero  to  his  friend  from  Rhegium  on  July  28, 
44  B.C.53  In  it,  after  defining  what  is  called  in  Greek 
oracris  and  in  Latin  status,  he  takes  this  fling  at  the  dead 
Caesar: 

And  in  this  kind  of  argumentation  the  conjectural  refutation  A  fling  at  the 
takes  place.  But  when  there  is  any  discussion  about  utility,  or  dead  Caesar, 
honor,  or  equity,  and  about  those  things  which  are  contrary  to  one 
another,  then  come  in  denials,  either  of  the  law  or  of  the  name  of 
the  action.  And  the  same  is  the  case  in  panegyrics.  For  one  may 
either  deny  that  that  has  been  done  which  the  person  is  praised  for ; 
or  else  that  it  ought  to  bear  that  name  which  the  praiser  has  con- 
ferred on  it,  or  else  one  may  altogether  deny  that  it  deserves  any 
praise  at  all,  as  not  having  been  done  rightly  or  lawfully.  And 
Caesar  employed  these  different  kinds  of  denial  with  exceeding 
impudence  when  speaking  against  my  friend  Cato.54 

53  Ad  Fam.,  vii,  19.  In  that  letter  he  said:  "But  if  certain  parts  appear 
to  you  to  be  somewhat  obscure,  you  must  reflect  that  no  art  can  be  learned 
out  of  books  without  someone  to  explain  it  and  without  some  practical 
exercise  in  it." 

**A&  Trebat.,  25. 


CHAPTER  XII 

TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW 

Early  in  the  year  54  B.C.,  when  Caesar  was  preparing 
for  his  second  invasion  of  Britain,  Cicero,  elated  by  the 
brilliant  reception  of  the  De  Oratore,  began  to  work  on 
his  comprehensive  treatise  on  the  Commonwealth  known 
De  as  De  Republica.    To  Atticus,  who,  as  publisher  and  gen- 

Repu   ua.       eraj  acjv;serj  everything  was  referred,  a  letter  was  written 
in  May  saying: 

I  wish  you  would  write  to  your  town  house,  ordering  your 
books  to  be  at  my  service  just  as  if  you  were  at  home,  especially 
those  of  Varro.     For  I  have  occasion  to  use  some  passages  o 
these  books  in  reference  to  those   [six  books  of  the  Republic'] 
have   in  hand,   and   which   I   hope  will  meet   with  your  strong 
approval.1 

In  reply  to  a  suggestion  that  Varro  should  figure  11 
the  new  work,  a  letter  to  Atticus  in  June  says : 

Varro,  of  whom  you  write,  shall  be  put  in  somewhere,  if  . 
can  find  a  place  for  him.  But  you  know  the  style  of  my  dia 
logues:  just  as  in  those  On  the  Orator,  which  you  praise  to  the 
skies,  a  mention  of  anyone  by  the  interlocutors  was  impossible,  un 
less  he  had  been  known  to  or  heard  of  by  them,  so  in  the  Dialogue 
on  the  Republic,  which  I  have  begun,  I  have  put  the  discussior 
in  the  mouths  of  Africanus,  Philus,  Laelius,  and  Manilius.2 

Certainly  in  That  dialogue  in  imitation  of  Plato,  whom  the  author 
.  *?  a"°"  kept  constantly  in  view,  was  finally  arranged  in  six  books, 
51  b.c  which  were  certainly  in  general  circulation  in  the  year 

51  B.C.3 

1  Ad  Att.,  iv,  14.  -  Ibid.,  iv,  1 6. 

3  The  precise  date  of  publication  is  unknown.    It  was  in  an  unfinished 
state  in  September,  54  B.C. 

354 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW  355 

At  the  time  of  the  Renaissance  nothing  could  be  found 
of  the  De  Republica  except  "Scipio's  Dream,"  extracted 
entire  from  the  sixth  book  by  Macrobius,  and  certain 
fragments  quoted  by  grammarians  and  ecclesiastics,  espe- 
cially by  St.  Augustine  and  Lactantius.  And  so  matters 
stood  down  to  1822,  when  Monsignor  Mai,  librarian  of 
the  Vatican,  found  considerable  portions  of  the  long-lost 
treasure  in  a  palimpsest  obliterated  to  make  way  for  St. 
Augustine's  Commentary  on  the  Psalms.  The  portions 
thus  recovered,  when  added  to  other  fragments,  give  us 
perhaps  one-third  of  the  whole,  the  basis  upon  which  all  Not  more 
modern  estimates  have  been  made  of  a  work  whose  direct  thra?  a  th,1Tf 

or  the  whole 

and  practical  purpose  was  to  arouse  Roman  citizens  to  survives, 
the   dangers   which  then   threatened   destruction   to   the 

liberties  of  their  country.     The   first  book,   a  splendid  First  book  an 

epitome  of  the  science  of  politics  as  understood  at  that  ePltorneof 

1  r  the  science 

time,  emphasized  the  truth  that  the  study  of  philosophy   of  politics, 
should  be  made  as  practical  as  possible,  so  applied  in 
fact  to  political  and  active  life  as  to  satisfy  Plato's  maxim 
—  "Happy  is  the  nation  whose  philosophers  are  kings, 
and  whose  kings  are  philosophers." 

For  our  country  did  not  beget  and  educate  us  [the  author  says] 
with  the  expectation  of  receiving  no  support,  as  I  may  call  it,  from 
us ;  nor  for  the  purpose  of  consulting  nothing  but  our  convenience, 
to  supply  us  with  a  secure  refuge  from  idleness  and  a  tranquil  spot 
for  rest ;  but  rather  with  a  view  of  turning  to  her  own  advantage 
the  nobler  position  of  our  genius,  heart,  and  counsel,  giving  us 
back  for  our  private  service  only  what  she  can  spare  from  the 
public  interests.4 

As  a  patriotic  statesman  Cicero  never  wearied  in  de- 
I  nouncing  the  Greek  philosophers  who,  absorbed  in  trans- 
j  cendental  metaphysics  and  closet  speculations,  taught  that 

4  De  Repub.,  i,  4. 


356 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Three  chief 
forms  of 
government 
analyzed. 


Scipio's 
preference 
for  royalty. 


Second  book 
a  review  of 
the  origin 
and  growth 
of  the  Roman 
constitution. 


Tribute  to 
the  early 
kings. 


true  philosophers  should  not  take  part  in  the  actual  man- 
agement of  public  affairs.  Then,  after  defining  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  "republic,"  he  proceeds  to  analyze  and 
compare  the  three  chief  forms  of  government  —  the  mon- 
archic, the  aristocratic,  and  the  democratic. 

When  the  direction  of  all  depends  on  one  person  [he  says]  we 
call  this  individual  a  king,  and  this  form  of  political  constitution 
a  kingdom.  When  it  is  in  the  power  of  privileged  delegates,  the 
state  is  said  to  be  ruled  by  an  aristocracy ;  and  when  the  people  are 
all  in  all,  they  call  it  a  democracy,  or  popular  constitution.5 

Scipio  thus  states  his  preference: 

Since  these  are  the  facts  of  experience,  royalty  is,  in  my  opinion, 
very  far  preferable  to  the  three  other  kinds  of  political  constitu- 
tions. But  it  is  itself  inferior  to  that  which  is  composed  of  an 
equal  mixture  of  the  three  best  forms  of  government,  united  and 
modified  by  one  another.  I  wish  to  establish  in  a  commonwealth 
a  royal  and  preeminent  chief.  Another  position  of  power  should 
be  deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  aristocracy  and  certain  things 
should  be  reserved  to  the  judgment  and  wish  of  the  multitude.6 

Such  is  the  prelude  to  the  second  book,  in  which  is 
contained  an  able  and  eloquent  review  of  the  origin  and 
growth  of  the  Roman  constitution.  When  Sir  James 
Macintosh,  as  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  historical 
school,  said:  "Constitutions  are  not  made,  they  grow," 
he  was  simply  reechoing,  quite  unconsciously  no  doubt, 
the  opening  lines  of  chapter  22,  book  ii,  of  De  Republica: 
"Then  Laelius  said:  'All  that  you  have  been  relating 
simply  corroborates  the  saying  of  Cato,  that  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  Roman  Republic  is  not  the  work  of  any  one 
age,  or  of  any  one  man.' " 

In  tracing  its  evolution  Cicero  begins  with  the  early 
kings,  upon  whom  he  bestows  the  warmest  praise,  empha- 

5  De  Repub.,  i,  45.  6  Ibid. 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW  357 

sizing  the  great  advantages  that  had  resulted  from  the 
primitive  monarchical  system.  Then,  after  explaining 
how  that  system  had  been  gradually  swept  away,  he 
emphasizes  the  importance  of  reviving  it  by  drawing  an 
animated  picture  of  the  evils  and  misfortunes  that  had 
befallen  the  Commonwealth  by  reason  of  an  excess  of 
democratic  folly  and  violence  which  had  gradually  won 
an  alarming  preponderance.  In  the  light  of  his  large 
political  experience  he  concludes  by  forecasting,  in  a  kind 
of  prophetic  vision,  the  subsequent  revolutions  that  such 
a  state  of  things  must  necessarily  bring  about.  After 
reviewing  the  reign  of  the  last  king  of  Rome,  he  indulges 
in  this  weighty  reflection : 

Here  begins  the  revolution  in  our  political  system  of  govern- 
ment and  I  must  beg  your  attention  to  its  natural  course  and  pro- 
gression.   For  the  great  point  of  political  science,  the  object  of  our    The  great 
discourses,  is  to  know  the  march  and  the  deviations  of  govern-    point  in 
ments,  so  that  when  we  are  acquainted  with  the  particular  courses    sc;ence# 
and  inclinations  of  constitutions  we  may  be  able  to  restrain  them 
from  their  fatal  tendencies,  or  to  oppose  obstacles  to  their  decline 
and  fall.7 

In   contrasting  his   history   of  a   real   commonwealth   An  ideal  and 
with  Plato's  vision  of  an  ideal  one,  Cicero  says:  real  common- 

'  J  wealth  con- 

And  he  has  given  us  a  description  of  a  city,  rather  to  be  desired 
than  expected;  and  he  has  made  out  not  such  a  one  as  can  really 
exist,  but  one  in  which  the  principles  of  political  affairs  may  be 
discerned.  But  for  me,  if  I  can  in  any  way  accomplish  it,  while  I 
adopt  the  same  general  principles  as  Plato,  I  am  seeking  to  reduce 
them  to  experience  and  practice,  not  in  the  shadow  and  picture  of 
a  state,  but  in  a  real  and  actual  commonwealth,  of  unrivalled 
amplitude  and  power;  in  order  to  be  able  to  point  out,  with  the 
most  graphic  precision,  the  causes  of  every  political  good  and 
social  evil.8 

7  De  Repub.,  ii,  25.  8  Ibid.,  ii,  30. 


358 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


obligations 
as  the  basis 
of  political 
union. 


Here  spoke  in  no  uncertain  terms  a  Stoic  of  the  school 
of  Panaetius,  the  reformer  who,  ignoring  dialectic  subtle- 
ties, taught  a  practical  system  of  morals  which  dealt 
Great  moral  directly  with  "external  duties,"  required  of  all  men,  wise 
and  unwise.  The  latter  part  of  the  second  book  is  de- 
voted to  a  searching  inquiry  into  the  great  moral  obliga- 
tions that  constitute  the  foundation  of  all  political  union. 

I  declare  to  you  [said  Scipio]  that  I  consider  that  all  I  have 
spoken  respecting  the  government  of  the  state  is  worth  nothing, 
and  that  it  will  be  useless  to  proceed  further,  unless  I  can  prove 
that  it  is  a  false  assertion  that  political  business  cannot  be  con- 
ducted without  injustice  and  corruption;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
establish  a  most  indisputable  fact  that  without  the  strictest  justice, 
no  government  whatever  can  last  long.9 


Third  book  a 
collection  of 
disjointed 
fragments. 


"Honesty  the 
best  policy." 


St. 

Augustine's 
City  of  God. 


From  that  declaration,  closing  the  second  book,  we 
pass  to  the  third,  a  mere  collection  of  disjointed  frag- 
ments, which,  as  we  learn  from  St.  Augustine  and  Lac- 
tantius,  embodied  a  protracted  discussion  of  the  famous 
paradox  of  Carneades,  that  justice  is  only  a  vision,  or 
rather  a  delusion.  Taking  up  the  great  question  of  polit- 
ical justice,  Cicero  undertakes  to  maintain  the  absolute 
verity  of  the  proverb,  "Honesty  is  the  best  policy,"  in 
public  as  well  as  private  affairs.  For  a  masterly  analysis 
of  his  disquisition  on  that  subject  we  are  indebted  to  St. 
Augustine's  City  of  God,  wherein  the  following  appears: 

In  the  third  book  of  Cicero's  Commonwealth  the  question  of 
Political  Justice  is  most  earnestly  discussed.  Philus  is  appointed 
to  support,  as  well  as  he  can,  the  sophistical  arguments  of  those 
who  thought  that  political  government  cannot  be  carried  on  with- 
out the  aid  of  injustice  and  chicanery.  He  denies  holding  any 
such  opinion  himself;  yet,  in  order  to  exhibit  the  truth  more 
vividly  through  the  force  of  contrast,  he  pleads,  with  the  utmost 
9  De  Repub.,  ii,  44. 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW 


359 


ingenuity,  the  cause  of  injustice  against  justice;  and  endeavors  to 
show  by  plausible  examples  and  specious  dialectics,  that  injustice  is 
as  useful  to  a  statesman  as  justice  would  be  injurious. 

Then  Laelius,  at  the  general  request,  takes  up  the  plea  for 
justice,  and  maintains  with  all  his  eloquence  that  nothing  could 
be  so  ruinous  to  states  as  injustice  and  dishonesty,  and  that  with- 
out a  supreme  justice,  no  political  government  could  expect  a 
long  duration.  This  point  being  sufficiently  proved,  Scipio  returns 
to  the  principal  discussion.  He  reproduces  and  enforces  the  short 
definition  that  he  had  given  of  a  commonwealth  —  that  it  con- 
sisted in  the  welfare  of  the  entire  people,  by  which  word  "people" 
he  does  not  mean  the  mob,  but  the  community,  bound  together 
by  the  sense  of  common  rights  and  mutual  benefits. 

He  notices  how  important  such  just  definitions  are  in  all 
debates  whatever,  and  draws  the  conclusion  from  the  preceding 
arguments  —  that  the  commonwealth  is  the  common  welfare  wher- 
ever it  is  swayed  with  justice  and  wisdom,  whether  it  be  sub- 
ordinate to  a  king,  an  aristocracy,  or  a  democracy.  But  if  the 
king  be  unjust,  and  so  becomes  a  tyrant;  and  the  aristocracy 
unjust,  which  makes  them  a  faction;  or  the  democrats  unjust, 
and  so  degenerate  into  revolutionists  and  destructives  —  then  not 
only  the  commonwealth  is  corrupted,  but  in  fact  annihilated; 
for  it  can  be  no  longer  the  common  welfare  when  a  tyrant  or  a 
faction  abuse  it;  and  the  people  itself  no  longer  the  people  when 
it  becomes  unjust,  since  it  is  no  longer  a  community  associated 
by  a  sense  of  right  and  utility  according  to  the  definition.10 

From  the  few  scattered  fragments  that  remain  of  the 
fourth  book,  some  of  them  of  enticing  beauty,  it  is  pos- 
sible to  affirm  that  it  was  a  dissertation  upon  the  duties  of 
citizens  in  public  and  private  life,  involving  a  treat- 
ment of  morals  and  education,  and  the  use  and  abuse  of 
stage  entertainments.  And  from  equally  imperfect  data 
we  may  conclude  that  the  fifth  book,  after  a  prologue  The  fifth  on 
lamenting  the  general  depravity  of  morals  becoming  rap-  ^  ^strates* 
idly  more  corrupt,  was  devoted  to  the  duties  of  magis- 

10  Aug.,  Civ.  Dei,  3-21. 


Fourth  book 
a  dissertation 
on  duties  of 
citizens. 


360 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Sixth  book 
embodies  an 
appeal  based 
on  rewards 
beyond  the 
grave. 


"Scipio's 
Dream"  a 
confession  of 
faith  in  the 
immortality 
of  the  soul. 


trates  in  the  administration  of  the  laws,  including  a  review 
of  Roman  legal  procedure,  beginning  with  the  infancy  of 
the  city  when  the  only  courts  were  those  held  under  the 
paternal  jurisdiction  of  the  kings. 

It  is  in  the  sixth  book  that  Cicero  strengthens  his  appeal 
to  his  countrymen  "to  rise  on  stepping-stones  of  their 
dead  selves  to  higher  things,"  by  the  promise  that  all 
patriotic  and  philanthropic  statesmen  shall  be  rewarded 
not  only  on  earth  by  the  approval  of  their  own  con- 
sciences and  the  applause  of  all  good  citizens,  but  by 
immortal  glory  in  a  heavenly  realm  beyond  the  grave: 

Now,  in  order  to  encourage  you,  my  dear  Africanus,  continued 
the  shade  of  my  ancestor,  to  defend  the  state  with  the  greater 
cheerfulness,  be  assured  that,  for  all  those  who  have  in  any  way 
contributed  to  the  preservation  and  enlargement  of  their  native 
country,  there  is  a  certain  place  in  heaven  where  they  shall  enjoy 
an  eternity  of  happiness.  For  nothing  on  earth  is  more  agree- 
able to  God,  the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  universe,  than  the 
assemblies  and  societies  of  men  united  together  by  laws,  which 
we  call  states.  It  is  from  heaven  their  rulers  and  preservers 
came,  and  thither  they  return.11 

Such  is  the  undertone  of  that  part  of  the  sixth  book 
known  as  "Scipio's  Dream,"  the  clearest,  the  most  con- 
fident, the  most  brilliant  confession  of  faith  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  and  of  a  higher  existence  in  a  realm 
above  the  stars,  where  "all  is  eternal,"  ever  uttered  in 
the  ancient  world  prior  to  the  inspired  declarations  of 
St.  John  and  St.  Paul.  When  Scipio  addressed  his  father 
thus: 

Thou  best  and  most  venerable  of  parents,  since  this,  as  I  am 
informed  by  Africanus,  is  the  only  substantial  life,  why  do  I 
linger  on  earth,  and  not  rather  wish  to  come  thither  where  you 
are?12 

11  De  Repub.,  vi,  13.  12  Ibid.,  vi,  15. 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW 


361 


The  reply  was : 

That  is  impossible.  Unless  God,  whose  temple  is  all  that  vast 
expanse  you  behold,  shall  free  you  from  the  fetters  of  the  body, 
you  can  have  no  admission  into  this  place.  Mankind  have  re- 
ceived their  being  on  this  very  condition,  that  they  should  labor 
for  the  preservation  of  that  globe  which  is  situated  as  you  see, 

in  the  midst  of  this  temple,  and  is  called  earth It  is  your 

duty,  therefore,  my  Publius,  and  that  of  all  who  have  any  ven- 
eration for  the  gods,  to  preserve  this  wonderful  union  of  soul 
and  body;  nor  without  the  express  command  of  him  who  gave 
you  a  soul  should  the  least  thought  be  entertained  of  quitting 
human  life,  lest  you  seem  to  desert  the  post  assigned  to  you  by 
God  himself.  But  rather  follow  the  example  of  your  grandfather 
here,  and  of  me,  your  father,  in  paying  a  strict  regard  to  justice 
and  piety;  which  is  due  in  a  great  degree  to  parents  and  relations, 
but  most  of  all  to  our  country. 

Such  a  life  as  this  is  the  true  way  to  heaven,  and  to  the  com- 
pany of  those  who,  after  having  lived  on  earth  and  escaped  from 
the  body,  inhabit  the  place  which  you  now  behold.13 

And  as  I  continued  to  observe  the  earth  with  great  attention, 
"How  long,  I  pray  you,"  said  Africanus,  "will  your  mind  be 
fixed  on  that  object?  Why  do  you  not  rather  take  a  view  of 
the  magnificent  temples  among  which  you  have  arrived?  The 
universe  is  composed  of  nine  circles,  or  rather  spheres,  one  of 
which  is  the  heavenly  one  and  is  exterior  to  all  the  rest  which  it 
embraces;  being  itself  the  Supreme  God,  and  bounding  and  con- 
taining the  whole."  14 

When  I  had  recovered  myself  from  the  astonishment  occa- 
sioned by  a  wonderful  prospect,  I  thus  addressed  Africanus:  "Pray, 
what  is  this  sound  that  strikes  my  ears  in  so  loud  and  agreeable 
a  manner?"  To  which  he  replied:  "It  is  that  which  is  called 
the  music  of  the  spheres,  being  produced  by  their  motion  and 
impulse;  and  being  formed  by  unequal  intervals,  but  such  as  are 
divided  according  to  justest  proportion,  it  produces,  by  duly  tem- 
pering acute  with  grave  sounds,  various  concerts  of  harmony. 
....  By  the  amazing  noise  of  this  sound  the  ears  of  mankind 
have  been  in  some  degree  deafened;  and  indeed  hearing  is  the 
13  De  Repub.,  vi,  15.  14  Ibid.,  vi,  17. 


Canon 

against 

self-murder. 


The  true  way 
to  heaven. 


Universe 
composed  of 
nine  circles. 


"The 

music  of  the 
spheres." 


362 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


The  eternal 
seat  of 
splendor. 


The 

immortal 
mind  of  man. 

"The 

good  of  your 

country." 


dullest  of  all  the  human  senses.  Thus,  the  people  who  dwell 
near  the  cataracts  of  the  Nile  (which  are  called  Catadupa15)  are, 
by  the  excessive  roar  which  that  river  makes  in  precipitating  itseli 
from  those  lofty  mountains,  entirely  deprived  of  the  sense  oi 
hearing.  And  so  inconceivably  great  is  this  sound  which  is  pro- 
duced by  the  rapid  motion  of  the  whole  universe,  that  the  human 
ear  is  no  more  capable  of  receiving  it  than  the  eye  is  able  to  look 
steadfastly  and  directly  on  the  sun,  whose  beams  easily  dazzle 
the  strongest  sight.16 

"If,  then,  you  wish  to  elevate  your  views  to  the  contemplation 
of  this  eternal  seat  of  splendor,  you  will  not  be  satisfied  with  the 
praises  of  your  fellow-mortals,  nor  with  any  human  rewards  that 
your  exploits  can  obtain;  but  Virtue  herself  must  point  out  to 
you  the  true  and  only  object  worthy  of  your  pursuit.  Leave  to 
others  to  speak  of  you  as  they  may,  for  speak  they  will.  Their 
discourses  will  be  confined  to  the  narrow  limits  of  the  countries 
you  see,  nor  will  their  duration  be  very  extensive;  for  they  wil 
perish  like  those  who  utter  them,  and  will  be  no  more  rememberec 

by   posterity Consider   your  body  only,   not   yourself,    as 

mortal.  For  it  is  not  your  outward  form  which  constitutes  youi 
being,  but  your  mind;  not  that  substance  which  is  palpable  to 
the  senses,  but  your  spiritual  value.17  That  majestic  exposition  is 
followed  by  the  exclamation: 

"Know,  then,  that  you  are  a  God  —  for  a  God  it  must  be 
which  flourishes,  and  feels,  and  recollects,  and  foresees,  and  gov 
erns,  regulates,  and  moves  the  body  over  which  it  is  set,  as  the 
Supreme  Ruler  does  the  world  which  is  subject  to  him.  For  as 
that  Eternal  Being  moves  whatever  is  mortal  in  this  world,  so 
the  immortal  mind  of  man  moves  the  frail  body  with  which  it  is 
connected.18  ....  Do  you,  therefore,  exercise  this  mind  of 
yours  in  the  best  pursuits.  And  the  best  pursuits  are  those  which 
consist  in  promoting  the  good  of  your  country.  Such  employments 
will  speed  the  flight  of  your  mind  to  this  its  proper  abode;  and 
its  flight  will  be  still  more  rapid,  if,  even  while  it  is  enclosed  in 
the  body,  it  will  look  abroad,  and  disengage  itself  as  much  as 
possible  from  its  bodily  dwelling,  by  the  contemplation  of  things 


15  From  KaTadovrrew)  as  if  Down-roars. 

16  De  Repub.,  vi,  20. 


17  Ibid.,  vi,  23. 

18  Ibid.,  vi,  24. 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW  363 

which  are  external  to  itself."     Thus  saying,  he  vanished,  and  I 
awoke  from  my  dream.19 

It  seems  to  be  clear  that  the  De  Republica  was  at  the 
outset  divided  into  two  books,  which  were  then  expanded 
into  nine,20  and  finally  reduced  to  six;21  and  it  is  fair  to 
infer  that  the  three  books  thus  cut  off  became  the  nucleus 
of  the  separate  treatise,  De  Legibus,  intended  no  doubt  DeLegibus. 
as  a  supplement  to  the  first.  In  that  supplement,  prob-  Arpinum 
ably  never  completed  or  published,22  the  historical  person- 
ages disappear,  Atticus,  Quintus,  and  Cicero  himself 
taking  their  places  as  interlocutors.  As  the  date  of  the 
action  of  the  drama,  and  the  date  of  composition  are 
nearly  identical,  both  are  usually  assigned  to  the  middle 
or  end  of  the  year  52  B.C.  The  scene  is  laid  at  the 
author's  birthplace,  the  family  home,  situated  some  three 
miles  from  the  town  of  Arpinum,  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Fibrenus,  an  affluent  of  the  Liris.  As  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  second  book  we  have  the  following  description : 

Atticus.  Do  you  feel  inclined,  since  we  have  had  walking 
enough  for  the  present,  and  since  you  must  now  take  up  a  fresh 
part  of  the  subject  for  discussion,  to  vary  our  situation?  if  you 
do,  let  us  pass  over  to  the  island  which  is  surrounded  by  the 
Fibrenus  —  for  such,  I  believe,  is  the  name  of  the  other  river  — 

1  and  sit  down,  while  we  prosecute  the  remainder  of  our  discourse. 
Marcus.     I  like  your  proposal,  for  that  is  the  very*  spot  which 

;  I  generally  select  when  I  want  a  place  for  undisturbed  meditation, 
or  uninterrupted  reading  or  writing. 

\        Atticus.     In  truth,  now  I  am  come  to  this  delicious  retreat, 

'  I  cannot  see  too  much  of  it.     Would  you  believe  that  the  pleasure 

19  De  Repub.,  vi,  26. 

20  Ad  Quint.  Frat.,  iii,  5. 

''■        21  De  Leg.,  i,  6;  ii,  10;  De  Div.,  ii,  1. 

22  Everything  goes  to  show  that  the  work  known  as  the  Laws,  never  pub- 
lished in  Cicero's  lifetime,  was  put  forth  by  his  literary  executor,  Tiro,  after 
his  death. 


364 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Conversation 
on  justice 
and  law. 


Cradle  spot 
of  Marcus 
and  Quintus. 


The  villa  in 
his  grand- 
father's time. 


I  find  here  makes  me  almost  despise  the  magnificent  villas,  marble 
pavements,  and  sculptured  palaces?  Who  would  not  smile  at 
the  artificial  canals  which  our  great  folks  call  their  Niles  and 
Euripi,  after  he  had  seen  these  beautiful  streams?  Therefore, 
as  you  just  now,  in  our  conversation  on  justice  and  law,  referred 
all  things  to  nature,  so  you  seek  to  preserve  her  domination  even 
in  those  things  which  are  constructed  to  recreate  and  amuse  the 
mind.  I  therefore  used  to  wonder  before,  as  I  expected  nothing 
better  in  this  neighborhood  than  hill  and  rocks  (and,  indeed,  I 
had  been  led  to  form  these  ideas  by  your  own  speeches  and  verses) 
—  I  used  to  wonder,  I  say,  that  you  were  so  exceedingly  delighted 
with  this  place.  But  my  wonder,  on  the  contrary,  is  how,  when 
you  retire  from  Rome,  you  condescend  to  rusticate  in  any  other 
spot. 

Marcus.  But  when  I  can  escape  for  a  few  days,  especially 
at  this  season  of  the  year,  I  usually  do  come  here,  on  account  of 
the  beauty  of  the  scenery  and  salubrity  of  the  air;  but  it  is  but 
seldom  that  I  have  it  in  my  power  to  do  so.  There  is  one  reason, 
however,  why  I  am  so  fond  of  this  Arpinum,  which  does  not 
appeal  to  you. 

Atticus.     What  reason  is  that? 

Marcus.  Because,  to  confess  the  truth,  it  is  the  native  place 
of  myself  and  my  brother  here;  for  here  indeed,  descended  from 
a  very  ancient  race,  we  first  saw  the  day.  Here  is  our  altar, 
here  are  our  ancestors,  and  here  still  remain  many  vestiges  of  our 
family.  Besides,  this  villa  which  you  behold  in  its  present  form 
was  originally  constructed,  at  considerable  expense,  under  my 
father's  superintendence;  for,  having  very  infirm  health,  he  spent 
the  latter  years  of  his  life  here,  engaged  in  literary  pursuits.  And 
on  this  very  place,  too,  while  my  grandfather  was  alive,  and 
while  the  villa,  according  to  old  custom,  was  but  a  little  one,  like 
that  one  of  Curius  in  the  Sabine  district,  I  myself  was  born. 
There  is,  therefore,  an  indescribable  feeling  insensibly  pervading 
my  soul  and  sense  which  causes  me,  perhaps,  to  find  a  more 
than  usual  pleasure  in  this  place.  And  even  the  wisest  of  men, 
Ulysses,  is  said  to  have  renounced  immortality  that  he  might  once 
more  visit  his  beloved  Ithaca.23 


23  De  Leg.,  ii,  1. 


II 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW 


365 


The  general  plan  of  the  treatise  De  Legibus  and  its 
relation  to  the  De  Republica  are  thus  described:24 

Atticus.  But,  if  you  ask  what  I  expect,  I  should  reply  that, 
after  having  given  us  a  treatise  on  the  Commonwealth,  it  appears 
a  natural  consequence  that  you  should  also  write  one  on  the  Laws. 
For  that  is  what  I  see  was  done  by  your  illustrious  favorite 
Plato,  the  philosopher  whom  you  admire  and  prefer  to  all  others, 
and  love  with  an  especial  affection. 

Marcus.  Do  you  wish,  then,  that,  as  he  conversed  at  Crete 
with  Clinias,  and  Megillus  of  Lacedaemon,  on  that  summer's 
day,  as  he  described  it,  in  the  cypress  groves  and  sylvan  avenues 
of  Cnossus,  often  objecting  to,  and  at  times  approving  of,  the 
established  laws  and  customs  of  the  commonwealths,  and  dis- 
cussed what  were  the  best  laws;  so  we  also,  walking  beneath  these 
lofty  poplars,  along  these  green  and  umbrageous  banks,  and  some- 
times sitting  down,  should  investigate  the  same  subjects  somewhat 
more  copiously  than  is  required  by  the  practice  of  courts  of  law?25 
....  For,  take  my  word  for  it,  in  no  kind  of  discussion  can  it 
be  more  advantageously  displayed  how  much  has  been  bestowed 
upon  man  by  nature,  and  how  great  a  capacity  for  the  noblest 
enterprises  is  implanted  in  the  mind  of  man,  for  the  sake  of  cul- 
tivating and  perfecting  which  we  were  born  and  sent  into  the 
world,  and  what  beautiful  association,  what  natural  fellowship, 
binds  men  together  by  reciprocal  charities;  and  when  we  have 
planned  these  grand  and  universal  principles  of  morals,  then  the 

(  true  fountain  of  laws  and  rights  can  be  discovered. 

Atticus.     In  your  opinion,  then,  it  is  not  in  the  edict  of  the 

I  magistrate,  as  the  majority  of  our  modern  lawyers  pretend,  nor 
in   the   Twelve   Tables,  as  the   ancients  maintained,  but  in  the 

(  sublimest  doctrines  of  philosophy,  that  we  must  seek  for  the  true 

!  source  and  obligation  of  jurisprudence. 

24  "The  entire  treatise  De  Legibus  —  with  the  political  statutes  cast  in  the 
venerable  garb  of  archaic  language — shows  the  unvarying  admiration  with 

!  which  Cicero  contemplated  the  old  constitution.  Though  the  orator  had 
suffered  much  in  his  own  political  career  and  personal  fate  from  tribuni 
plebis  like  Clodius,  he  insists  {Leg.,  iii,  23  sq.)  that  the  tribunate  is  a 
necessary  and  wholesome  part  of  the  political  system,  being  intended  to 
provide  the  blind  efforts  of  the  masses  with  visible  leadership,  and  thus 
with  responsibility."  —  Sihler,  Introd.  to    Cicero's  Second  Philippic,  xxvii. 

25  De  Leg.,  i,  5. 


Relation 
between  De 
Republica 
and  De  Legi- 
bus defined. 


How  the  true 
foundations 
of  law  and 
right  may  be 
discovered. 


Philosophy 
the  source. 


366 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Marcus.  The  whole  subject  of  universal  law  and  jurispru- 
dence must  be  comprehended  in  this  discussion,  in  order  that  this 
which  we  call  civil  law  may  be  confined  in  some  small  and  narrow 
True  nature  space  of  nature.  For  we  shall  have  to  explain  the  true  nature 
of  moral  justice,  which  must  be  traced  back  from  the  nature  of 
man.  And  laws  will  have  to  be  considered  by  which  all  political 
states  should  be  governed.  And  last  of  all,  shall  we  speak  of 
those  laws  and  customs  of  nations,  which  are  framed  for  use  and 
convenience  of  particular  countries  (in  which  case  our  own  people 
will  not  be  omitted),  which  are  known  by  the  title  of  civil  laws.26 


of  moral 
justice 


Plato  fol- 
lowed only 
as  to  exter- 
nal forms. 


Substance  of 
the  treatise 
drawn  from 
Stoic  sources. 


In  view  of  the  reference  made  by  Atticus  to  "your 
illustrious  favorite  Plato,  the  philosopher  whom  you 
admire  and  prefer  to  all  others,"  it  is  all  important  to 
emphasize  the  fact  that  while  in  the  composition  of  the 
treatise  on  the  Laws  the  author  did  adopt  that  philoso- 
pher as  a  model,  in  all  that  relates  to  decoration  and 
external  form,  he  drew  upon  the  Stoics  for  the  whole 
substance,  including  definitions,  propositions,  and  argu- 
ments, excepting  only  what  is  immediately  connected  with 
the  Roman  law.  An  eminent  authority  has  well  said 
that,  with  that  exception,  the  entire  substance  of  the  trea- 
tise "can  be  traced  to  the  labors  of  the  Stoics,  especially 

tO    the   <f>vmKal   0e'o-£is,    the   irepl  Ka\ovy    the   irtpi   Sikcuoow^s,    and 

above  all  the  vrept  vofiov  of  Chrysippus;  for  the  few  frag- 
ments which  have  been  preserved  of  these  tracts  are  still 
sufficient  to  show  that  not  only  did  Cicero  draw  his  mate- 
rials from  their  stores,  but  in  some  instances  did  little 
more  than  translate  their  words.  Even  in  the  passages  on 
magistrates  the  ideas  of  Plato,  Aristotle  and  Theophras- 
tus  are  presented  with  the  modifications  introduced  by 
Dion    (Diogenes?)    and   Panaetius    (De  Leg.   iii,   6).27 

26  De  Leg.,  i,  5. 

27  Smith,  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Biography  and  Mythology, 
vol.  i,  p.  730. 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW  367 

Cardinal  Newman  covered  the  matter  perfectly  when  he 
said: 

This  difference  of  sentiment  between  the  magistrate  and  the  Cardinal 
pleader  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  opening  of  his  treatise  Newman's 
De  Lcgibus;  where,  after  deriving  the  principles  of  law  from 
the  nature  of  things,  he  is  obliged  to  beg  quarter  of  the  Academics, 
whose  reasoning  he  feels  could  at  once  destroy  the  foundation  on 
which  his  argument  rested.  "My  treatise  throughout,"  he  says, 
"aims  at  the  strengthening  of  states  and  the  welfare  of  peoples. 
I  dread  therefore  to  lay  down  any  but  well  considered  and  care- 
fully examined  principles;  I  do  not  say  principles  which  are 
universally  received,  for  none  are  such,  but  principles  received 
by  those  philosophers  who  consider  virtue  to  be  desirable  for  its 
own  sake,  and  nothing  whatever  to  be  good,  or  at  least  a  great 
good,  which  is  not  in  its  own  nature  praiseworthy."  These 
philosophers  are  the  Stoics;  and  then,  apparently  alluding  to  the 
arguments  of  Carneades  against  justice,  which  he  had  put  into 
the  mouth  of  Philus  in  the  third  book  of  his  De  Republica,  he 
proceeds:  "As  to  the  Academy,  which  puts  the  whole  subject 
into  utter  confusion,  I  mean  the  New  Academy  of  Arcesilaus  and 
Carneades,  let  us  persuade  it  to  hold  its  peace.  For,  if  it  should 
make  an  inroad  upon  the  views  which  we  consider  we  have  so 
skilfully  put  into  shape,  it  will  make  an  extreme  havoc  of  them. 
The  Academy  I  cannot  conciliate,  and  I  dare  not  ignore."  28 

Passing  from  the  character  of  the  work  as  a  whole  we 
find  its  first  book  devoted  to  an  investigation  into  the   First  book 
sources  of  justice  and  virtue,  into  a  seeking  "for  the  origin    "|  *n  ^fe 
of  justice  at  its  fountain  head."     In  that  way  it  is  ascer-   justice  at 
tained  first,  that  the  ultimate  source  of  justice  is  God;    tain  head." 
second,  that  men,  being  bound  together  by  a  community 
of  feelings,  faults,  and  desires,  are  compelled  to  cultivate 
social  union,  and  consequently  justice,  without  which  social 
union  cannot  exist. 

There  exists,  therefore,  since  nothing  is  better  than  reason,  and 
since  this  is  the  common  property  of  God   and  man,  a  certain 
28  Historical  Sketches,  vol.  i,  pp.  272-273,  quoting  De  Leg.,  i,  13. 


368 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


associated 
by  law. 


Nature  the 
fountain  of 
justice. 


aboriginal  rational  intercourse  between  divine  and  human  natures. 
But  where  reason  is  common,  there  right  reason  must  also  be 
common  to  the  same  parties;  and  since  this  right  reason  is  what 
God  and  men  we  call  law,  God  and  men  must  be  considered  as  associated  by 
law.  Again,  there  must  also  be  a  communion  of  right  where 
there  is  a  communion  of  law.  And  those  who  have  law  and  right 
thus  in  common,  must  be  considered  members  of  the  same  com- 
monwealth. And  if  they  are  obedient  to  the  same  rule  and  the 
same  authority,  they  are  even  much  more  so  to  this  one  celestia 
regency,  this  divine  mind  and  omnipotent  deity.  So  that  the 
entire  universe  may  be  looked  upon  as  forming  one  vast  common- 
wealth of  gods  and  men.29  ....  Then  you  have  not  much 
to  add,  my  brother,  for  the  arguments  you  have  already  used  have 
sufficiently  proved  to  Atticus,  or  at  all  events  to  me,  that  nature 
is  the  fountain  of  justice.30 

The  final  deduction  is  that  as  God  is  intimately  con- 
nected with  human  nature  through  reason  and  virtue, 
God  and  man's  moral  nature  are  the  joint  sources  of 
justice. 

The  second  book  is  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  an 
ideal  code,  illustrated  by  constant  references  to  ancient 
Roman  institutions,  which  treats  of  hierarchical  and  eccle- 
siastical laws,  embracing  the  worship  of  God,  the  sacred 
festivals,  ministrations,  and  ceremonials.  Morabin,  in 
his  striking  preface  to  De  Le gibus,  has  said: 

In  the  second  book,  which  treats  of  religious  worship,  he  dis- 
covered an  infinity  of  facts,  which  serve  to  undeceive  us  on  the 
false  ideas  which  are  entertained  respecting  the  religion  of  the 
ancients.  Cicero  proves  that  they  also  believed  and  worshiped 
one  true  God,  in  all  his  wonderful  theophanies  and  develop- 
ments, and  that  the  astonishing  multiplicity  of  divinities  which 
they  venerated  was  originally  the  product  of  a  pious  fear,  bufl 
augmented  and  often  corrupted  by  the  interest  of  certain  parties. 
The   religion,   therefore,   of   the   ancient   philosophers   and   sages 

^DeLeg.,1,7.  s°  Ibid.,  i,  13. 


Second  book 
devoted  to 
religious 
worship. 


Morabin's 

striking 

comment. 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW  369 

was  only  one  form  of  the  true  theology;  and  it  excites  our  admi- 
ration by  showing  us  how  frequently  the  grand  doctrines  of 
revelation  are  confirmed  by  the  mythology  of  the  heathens.  Thus 
the  great  chain  of  divine  truth  was  preserved  entire,  even  in  the 
midst  of  that  confusion  of  gods,  sacrifices,  festivals,  and  religious 
ceremonials,  so  generally  idle,  ridiculous,  or  profane. 

It  is  said  that  from  Cicero's  brilliant  panegyric  on  divine  Source  of 

law  and  universal  justice,  Hooker  drew  the  famous  exor-  famous 

dium  to  his  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  specially  notable  for  the  exordium, 
declaration: 

Of  Law  no  less  can  be  said,  than  that  her  seat  is  the  bosom 
of  God,  and  her  voice  the  harmony  of  the  universe.  All  things 
in  heaven  and  earth  do  her  homage,  the  very  least  as  feeling  her 
care,  and  the  greatest  as  not  exempted  from  her  power.  Both 
angels  and  men,  and  creatures  of  what  creation  soever,  though 
each  in  different  sort  and  manner,  yet  all  with  uniform  consent 
admiring  her  as  the  mother  of  their  common  peace  and  joy. 

The  third  book  is  devoted  to  an  exposition  of  the  civil  Third  book 
laws,  and  the  duties  of  the  civil  magistrates  by  whom  they   ^txw^^on 
are  enforced,  attended  by  a  series  of  legal  maxims  and   of  civil  laws, 
short  expositions  as  to  the  nature  and  importance  of  their 
functions    as    interpreters    and    enforcers    of    the    laws. 
When  we  consider  the  manner  in  which  the  time  is  em- 
ployed and  the  days  distributed  by  the  interlocutors,  it 
is  quite  possible  that  the  original  work  was  composed  in 
six  books,  corresponding  to  those  of  the  Commonwealth. 
The  fact  that  a  fragment  from  the  fifth  book  of  the  Laws 

;  is  quoted  by  Macrobius,  is  certainly  evidence  that  at  least 

!  two  books  have  been  lost.31 

When  due  weight  is  given  to  the  motive  that  inspired 

31  The  title  De  Legibus  rests  on  the  authority  of  nearly  all  the  MSS.  The 
1  title  De  Jure  Civili  et  Legibus,  which  occurs  in  one  only,  grew,  no  doubt, 
I  out  of  the  desire  to  include  the  supposed  contents  of  the  later  books.    Cf. 
De  Leg.,  iii,  5  ;  Gell.,  i,  22. 


370 

De  Officiis, 
the  conclu- 
sion of  an 
appeal  first 
made  in  De 
Republica. 


Social  and 
political  de- 
generation. 


An  effort  to 
conciliate 
imperialism 
with  liberty. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

the  production  of  the  treatise  entitled  De  Officiis,  it  must 
be  regarded  as  the  conclusion  of  an  appeal  for  the  regen- 
eration of  the  Roman  Republic  first  made  in  the  De 
Republica  and  its  supplement,  De  Le gibus.  Eight  years 
had  passed  by  since  the  composition  of  the  last  named; 
the  tragedy  of  the  ides  of  March  was  over;  Cicero,  weary 
and  disillusioned,  had  written  the  Second  Philippic  but 
had  not  published  it,  when,  in  his  lonely  villa  at  Puteoli  — 

....  amid  the  November  winds  and  snow,  he  worked  anxiously 
at  the  task  of  constructing  an  ideal  republic  on  paper.  He  had  now 
finished  the  first  two  books  and  was  proceeding  with  the  third 
of  his  treatise  upon  duty,  which,  after  some  hesitation,  he  had 
entitled,  De  Officiis 

It  must  be  constantly  remembered  that  this  book  was  written 
during  the  autumn  of  44  B.C.,  under  the  stress  of  the  reaction 
caused  by  the  bitterness  of  the  Civil  War,  by  the  moving  tragedy 
of  the  ides  of  March,  and  by  the  apprehension  of  coming  disaster; 
the  reader  who  does  not  know  the  history  of  that  terrible  year, 
and  of  the  daily  life  of  Cicero  during  those  months,  will  errone- 
ously regard  as  one  of  many  other  mediocre  philosophical  treatises 
this  most  important  document  for  the  political  and  social  life  of 
Rome. 

Like  all  deep  thinkers  in  Rome  after  the  Second  Punic  War, 
Cicero  had  been  profoundly  struck  by  the  pitiable  contradiction 
which  he  saw  before  him ;  while  gaining  in  knowledge  Italy  also 
increased  in  corruption,  wealth  made  her  still  more  insatiable,  her 
birth-rate  declined  as  men  were  needed,  she  provoked  war  and  lost 
her  military  capacity,  extended  her  power  over  other  peoples,  and 
bartered  away  her  own  freedom.  He  therefore  proposed  to  make 
one  more  search,  as  his  predecessors  had  done,  for  the  hidden 
means  of  conciliating  imperialism  with  liberty,  progress  with  pros- 
perity, luxury  and  wealth  with  social  and  political  discipline,  and 
intellectual  culture  with  morality;  he  resumed  the  consideration 
of  a  problem  already  examined  in  the  De  Republica,  but  on  this 
occasion  from  the  moral  and  social  rather  than  from  the  political 
point  of  view.32 

32  Ferrero,  Greatness  and  Decline  of  Rome,  vol.  iii,  pp.  108-109. 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW  371 

The  fact  should  never  be  lost  sight  of  that  the  sep-  Separation  of 
aration  of  the  sciences,  to  which  we  are  so  accustomed, 
and  which  we  take  for  granted,  was  unknown  to  that 
antiquity  in  which  the  world  with  all  its  phenomena  was 
studied  as  a  whole.  Not  until  that  single  problem,  in 
which  the  facts  of  nature  and  the  doings  of  men  were 
alike  conceived  of  as  ordered  by  the  gods,  was  gradually 
broken  up  into  minor  problems  was  the  line  drawn 
between  those  sciences  which  deal  with  external  nature, 
including  theology  and  metaphysics,  and  those  which  deal 
with  the  actions  of  men.33 

If  we  follow  the  Greeks,  we  must  regard  ethics  as 
dealing  essentially  with  man  in  his  relations  to  his  fellow- 
men —  politics  as  dealing  essentially  with  man  not  simply 
as  a  member  of  society,  but  as  a  member  of  some 
particular  society  organized  in  a  particular  way,  and 
exercising  supreme  authority  over  its  members.  The 
fundamental  maxim  of  Aristotle,  the  founder  of  the  Aristotle 
science  of  politics,  is  that  man  is  born  to  be  a  citizen —  rfnotitieS 

' Av6po)TTO<i  <f>v(T€t  ttoXltikov  £wov.  science. 

He  cannot  isolate  himself  without  becoming  either  less 
or  more  than  man  (y  drjplov  rj  0eo's).  The  cityless  man 
(<i7roA«) — the  natural  man  of  Hobbes  and  Rousseau  — 
must  be  more  or  less  than  man;  either  superhuman  or 
monster.  The  assumption  is  that  the  state  is  a  prime 
necessity  to  man;  the  state  is  prior  in  idea  to  the  indi- 
vidual; the  normal  conception  of  man  is  of  a  man  in  a 
state  of  civilization.     On  those  grounds  Aristotle  went 

.  .  .  .  .  Cicero 

on  from  his  Ethics  to  the  composition  of  his  Politics.    He   ignored  his 
made  the  capital  advance  of  separating  ethics  from  poli-   seParatlonof 

r  .  ethics  from 

tics.34  And  yet  despite  that  advance,  Cicero,  in  the  three  politics. 

33  Cf.  Holland,  Jurisprudence,  p.  17,  10th  ed. 

34  Cf.  the  author's  Science  of  Jurisprudence,  p.  4. 


372 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Zeno  caught 
the  practical 
spirit  of  the 
age. 


Panaetius 
the  founder 
of  Roman 
Stoicism. 


connected  compositions  in  question,  acting  rather  as 
statesman  than  as  a  philosopher,  employed  Stoic  ethics, 
considered  as  an  applied  moral  science,  as  a  driving 
power  in  Roman  politics.  Morabin  was  right  when  he 
said: 

Cicero  was  not  merely  an  orator  and  philosopher;  he  was  also 
a  statesman.  Being  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  interests  of 
the  Roman  government,  and  conversant  with  all  branches  of 
natural,  national,  and  civil  law,  he  added  to  the  grand  specula 
tions  of  jurisprudence  a  practical  intimacy  with  public  affairs 
in  which  he  was  deeply  engaged  during  the  most  critical  periods. 

Zeno,  the  founder  of  Stoicism,  had  caught  the  practica 
spirit  of  his  age,  the  desire  for  a  popular  philosoph 
which  would  impel  men  to  live  not  simply  for  themselves, 
but  for  the  common  good,  for  society,  for  the  state  —  in 
a  word,  a  philosophy  that  would  tend  to  make  earnest 
and  patriotic  citizens.  It  was  the  Stoic  reformer  Panae- 
tius, whose  coming  to  Rome  has  been  heretofore  de«j 
scribed,  who  gave  a  fresh  impetus  to  the  subject  of  right 
living  through  his  work  Upon  External  Duty. 

Panaetius  may  well  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of  Roma 
Stoicism,  and  is  of  special  interest  to  us  as  the  writer  of  the 
treatise  (wept  kci0^kovtos)  which  Cicero  has  freely  translated  in  his 
Dc  Officiis.     He  sets  before  us  Stoicism  as  the  school  which  will 

train  the  scholar,  the  gentleman,  and  the  statesman In  his: 

treatises  the  figure  of  the  wise  man  is  withdrawn  to  the  back- 
ground ;  he  is  practically  concerned  only  with  the  "probationer" 
(6  TvpoKOTTTtav) ,  who  is  making  some  advance  in  the  direction  of, 
wisdom.  This  advance  is  not  made  by  acts  of  perfect  virtue,  but  j 
by  regular  performance  of  "services"  (KadrjKovra,  officio),  thed 
simple  and  daily  duties  which  come  in  the  way  of  the  good 
citizen.*' 

35  Arnold,  Roman  Stoicism,  pp.  101-102.  "Quod  summum  bonum  a! 
Stoicis  dicitur,  id  habet  hanc,  ut  opinor,  sententiam,  cum  virtute  congruere 
semper,  cetera  autem,  quae  secundum  naturam  essent,  ita  legere,  si  eaw 
virtuti  non  repugnarent."  —  De  Off.,  in,  3. 


. 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW  373 

Cicero's  primary  purpose  in  the  composition  of  the    Cicero's 
De  Officiis  was  to  construct  out  of  Stoics  ethics,  as  taught   struct  out  of" 
by  Panaetius  and  others  of  his  school,  a  manual  of  political   Stoic  ethics 
morality  in  which  moral  obligations  should  be  considered   practical 
in  reference  to  the  practical  business  of  the  world  as  in-  morality, 
volved  in  the  actual  intercourse  of  social  and  political 
life.     He  addressed  the  work  to  his  son  Marcus,  and 
through  him  to  all  young  Romans  of  his  son's  age  and 
rank.    In  that  way  he  hoped  to  regenerate  the  Republic  by 
infusing  a  new  and  higher  life  into  the  new  citizens  who 
were  soon  to  compose  it.    He  sounded  the  keynote  of  the 
entire  appeal  when,  in  "Scipio's  Dream,"  he  promised  the 
dutiful,  patriotic  citizen  fame  in  this  world,  and  eternal 
rest  and  glory  in  a  life  to  come.     "And  the  best  pursuits," 
he  said,  "are  those  which  consist  in  promoting  the  good 
of  your  country.     Such  employments  will  speed  the  flight 
of  your  mind  to  this  its  proper  abode." 

There  is  no  question  as  to  the  fact  that  in  the  compo- 
sition of  the  first  two  books  of  the  De  Officiis,  the  author  Took 
took  the  Trepi  Ka^/covTos  of  Panaetius  as  his  guide;  in  fact  ^hi^euide 
it  is  through  Cicero  that  we  know  clearly  what  the  doc- 
trines of  Panaetius  really  were.  He  borrowed  also  from 
Antipater  of  Tyre,  Diogenes  of  Babylon,  Hecato,  Posi- 
donius,  Diodotus,  and  others  enumerated  in  the  commen- 
tary of  Beier  and  the  tract  of  Lynden  on  Panaetius.36 

We  have  little  reason  to  regret  that  only  fragments  at  most 
remain  of  the  works  of  these  philosophers,  since  Cicero  presents 
to  us  a  comprehensive  view  not  only  of  the  doctrines  they  profess, 
but  also  of  the  criticisms  which  their  opponents  passed  upon  them, 
and  again  of  the  replies  they  made  to  these  criticisms.  In  carry- 
ing out  this  work  for  Stoicism  and  its  rival  systems,  Cicero  not 
only  created  the  philosophic  terminology  of  the  future  by  trans- 

86  P.  et  Hecatonis  librorum  frag.,  coll.  H.  N.  Fowler,  1855;  Disputatio 
hist,  de  P.  Rhodio.  F.  van  Lynden,  Leyden,  1802. 


374 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


An  interest- 
ing sidelight. 


Athenodorus 
Calvus. 


First  book 
a  threefold 
division  of 
the  subject. 


lations  of  technical  terms  from  Greek  into  Latin,  but  also  estab- 
lished a  new  style  of  philosophic  discussion.37 

We  have  an  interesting  sidelight  in  the  letter  written  to 
Atticus  from  Puteoli,  November  5,  44  B.C.,  in  which 
Cicero  says : 

Now  for  your  later  letter.    The  De  Officiis  —  as  far  as  Panae 
tius  goes  —  I  have  completed  in  two  books.     His  treatise  is  in 
three.     But  at  the  beginning  he  had  defined  the  cases  in  which 
duty  has  to  be  determined  to  be  three:   one  when  we  deliberate 
as  to  whether  a  thing  is  right  or  wrong;  another  whether  it  i 
expedient  or  inexpedient;  and  a  third  when  there  seems  to  be  ; 
contest  between  the  right  and  the  expedient,  on  what  principl 
we  are  to  decide  —  as,  for  instance,  in  the  case  of  Regulus,  i 
was  right  to  return,  expedient  to  stay.     Well,  having  begun  by 
defining  these  three  categories,  he  discussed  the  first  two  in  bril- 
liant style;  on  the  third  he  promised  an  essay  in  due  course,  bu 
never  wrote  it.     That  topic  was   taken  up  by   Posidonius.     I, 
however,  both  sent  for  the  latter's  book,  and  also  wrote  to  Athe 
nodorus  Calvus  to  send  me  an  analysis  of  it.     I  am  now  waitinj 
for  this,  and  I  should  be  obliged  if  you  would  give  him  a  reminde 
and  ask  him  to  send  it  as  soon  as  possible.     In  that  treatise  then 
are  remarks  upon  "relative  duty."     As  to  your  question  abou 
the  title,  I  have  no  doubt  about  officium  representing  KaOrjKov  — 
unless  you  have  something  else  to  suggest  —  but  the  fuller  titlq 
is  De  Officiis.     Finally,  I  address  it  to  my  son.     It  seemed  to  ml 
to  be  not  inappropriate.38 


After  a  preface  of  a  personal  character  directed  1 
Marcus  the  younger,  the  first  book  opens  with  this  three 
fold  division  of  the  subject: 

In  the  opinion,  therefore,  of  Panaetius,  there  is  a  threefold 
consideration  for  determining  our  resolution;  for  men  doubt 
whether  the  thing  which  falls  under  their  consideration  be  of 
itself  virtuous,  or  disgraceful,  and  in  this  deliberation  minds  are 
often  distracted  into  opposite  sentiments.    They  then  examine  and 

87  Arnold,  Roman  Stoicism,  p.  108.  38  Ad  AtU,  xvi,  n. 


• 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW  375 

deliberate  whether  or  not  the  subject  of  their  consideration  con- 
duces to  the  convenience  or  enjoyment  of  life,  to  the  improve- 
ment of  their  estate  and  wealth,  to  their  interest  and  power,  by 
which  they  may  profit  themselves  or  their  relations;  all  which 
deliberation  falls  under  the  category  of  utility.  The  third  kind 
of  doubtful  deliberation  is,  when  an  apparent  utility  seems  to 
clash  with  moral  rectitude;  for  when  utility  hurries  us  to  itself, 
and  virtue,  on  the  other  hand,  seems  to  call  us  back,  it  happens 
that  the  mind  is  distracted  in  the  choice,  and  these  occasion  a 
double  anxiety  in  deliberation.  In  this  division  (although  an 
omission  is  of  the  worst  consequence  in  divisions  of  this  kind), 
two  things  are  omitted;  for  we  are  accustomed  to  deliberate  not 
only  whether  a  thing  be  virtuous  or  shameful  in  itself,  but,  of 
two  things  that  are  virtuous,  which  is  the  more  excellent?  And, 
in  like  manner,  of  two  things  which  are  profitable,  which  is  the 
more  profitable?39 

Thus  the  admonition  is  given  that  when  we  are  called 
upon  to  perform  any  action  we  must  ask,  first,  whether 
it  is  good  in  itself  (hone stum) ,  absolutely  and  abstractly  is  an  action 
good;  second,  whether  it  is  good  (utile),  when  consid-   wood%f^ggm 
ered  with  reference  to  external  objects ;  third,  what  course  tum)  or  rel- 
we  must  pursue  when  there  is  a  conflict  between  the   JJy^j/ 
honestum  and  the  utile  —  each  admitting  of  degrees  that 
must  be  examined  in  order  to  enable  us  to  make  choice 
of  the  highest.     With  his  general  scheme  thus  defined, 
the  author  proceeds  to  dissolve  the  honestum  into  its  four 
constitutional  elements:  I.  The  power  of  discerning  the 
truth  (sapientia);  2.  The  capacity  to  guarantee  justice 
and  benevolence  to  all  around  us,  and  to  keep  contracts 
inviolate  (justicia  (et)  beneficentia);  3.   Greatness  and 
strength  of  mind  (fortitudo);  4.  The  power  to  do  and 
say  everything  at  the  proper  time,  in  the  proper  place, 
and  in  the  proper  way  ( temper antia).   After  an  exposi- 
tion has  been  made  of  each  of  the  four  subdivisions,  the 

39  De  Off.,  i,  3. 


376 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Second  book 
devoted  to 
the  utile. 


Third  book, 
no  real  con- 
flict between 
honestum 
and  utile. 


book  concludes  with  the  declaration  "that  in  the  choice 
of  our  duties,  we  are  to  prefer  that  kind  of  duty  which 
contributes  to  the  good  of  society,"  viz.,  the  good  of  the 
state  —  the  one  practical  object  of  all  of  Cicero's  phi- 
losophy. 

In  opening  the  second  book,  devoted  to  a  consideration 
of  the  utile,  the  author  says: 

I  think  I  have  in  the  former  book  sufficiently  explained  in 
what  manner  our  duties  are  derived  from  morality,  and  every 
kind  of  virtue.  It  now  remains  to  treat  of  those  kinds  of  duties 
that  relate  to  the  improvement  of  life,  and  to  the  acquirement  of 
those  means  which  men  employ  for  the  attainment  of  wealth  and 
distinction.  In  this  inquiry,  as  I  have  already  observed,  I  will 
treat  of  what  is  useful,  and  what  is  not  so.  Of  several  utilities, 
I  shall  speak  of  that  which  is  more  useful  or  most  so.40 

At  the  close  he  says: 

Now,  in  these  precepts  about  things  profitable,  Antipater,  the 
Tyrian,  a  Stoic  who  lately  died  at  Athens,  considers  that  two 
things  are  passed  over  by  Panaetius  —  the  care  of  health  and  of 
property  —  which  matters  I  fancy  were  passed  over  by  the  very 
eminent  philosopher  because  they  were  obvious;  they  certainly 
are  useful.41 

His  last  words  are  these: 

But  the  comparison  of  external  objects  is  thus,  that  glory 
should  be  preferred  to  wealth,  a  city  income  to  a  country  one. 
Of  which  kind  of  comparison  is  that  reply  of  Cato  the  elder,  of 
whom,  when  inquiry  was  made,  what  was  the  best  policy  in  the 
management  of  one's  property,  he  answered,  "Good  grazing." 
"What  was  next?"  "Tolerable  grazing."  "What  third?"  "Bad 
grazing."  "What  fourth?"  "Tilling."  And  when  he  who  had 
interrogated  him  inquired,  "What  do  you  think  of  lending  at 
usury ?"    Then  Cato  answered,  "What  do  you  think  of  murder? 42 

After  declaring  in  the  third  book  that  Panaetius  had 
covered  the  subject-matter  of  the  first  two  —  "and  whom 

40  De  Off.,  ii,  i.  41  Ibid.,  ii,  24.  42  Ibid.,  ii,  25. 


TREATISES  ON  GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW  2>77 

I,  making  some  correction,  have  principally  followed"  — 
the  author  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  his  Stoic  master 
had  neglected  to  discuss  a  third  grand  division  of  the 
subject  which  he  states  thus:  "When  that  which  had  the 
appearance  of  virtue  was  in  opposition  to  that  which 
seemed  useful,  how  this  ought  to  be  determined."  He 
answers  by  demonstrating  that  there  can  never  be  any 
real  conflict  between  the  honestum  and  the  utile,  because, 
when  an  action  is  considered  from  the  proper  point  of 
view,  it  will  always  be  found  that  they  are  inseparable 
from  each  other.  Among  the  difficult  cases  stated  as  tests 
of  the  application  of  the  rules  laid  down,  great  emphasis 
is  given  to  that  of  Regulus,  which  is  dismissed  with  this 
observation: 

But  out  of  all  this  laudable  conduct  of  Regulus,  this  alone  is   Case  of 
worthy  of  admiration,  that  he  was  of  opinion  that  the  prisoners   Regulus. 
ought  to  be  retained.     For  that  he  returned  seems  wonderful  to 
us  now,  though  at  that  time  he  could  not  do  otherwise.     There- 
fore, that  was  not  the  merit  of  the  man,  but  of  the  times.43 

Who   can  read  the  famous  trilogy  composed  of  the   The  famous 
De  Republica,  the  De  Le gibus  and  the  De  Officiis,  and  regenerating 
fail  to  see  in  it,  when  taken  as  a  connected  whole,  a  most  influence, 
deliberate  and  persistent  effort  upon  the  part  of  Cicero 
to  employ  Stoic  ethics  as  an  applied  moral  science,  as  the 
best  and  only  means  of  regenerating  Roman  social  and 
political  life? 

**DeOff.,  iii,  31. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


Second 
dedicated 
to  Varro. 


TREATISES    ON    PHILOSOPHY   AND   THEOLOGY 

In  the  forefront  of  Cicero's  dissertations  on  specula- 
tive  philosophy   stands   his   treatise   on   the    Theory   of 
The  Human  Understanding,  whose  proper  title  is  the  Acade~ 

Academica,  .  .      .  .   ,      ,  ...  i       tt  •        •] 

two  editions,  mica,  or  which  there  were  two  editions,  the  Verronian  u 
four  books,  and  the  pre-Verronian  in  two  books,  both 
of  which  were  put  in  circulation.  A  part  of  each  has  beet 
preserved.  In  addition  to  a  fragment  containing  twelve 
chapters  of  the  first  book  of  the  second  or  Verronian 
edition,  we  have  the  entire  second  book  of  the  first  edition 
in  forty-nine  chapters,  to  which  is  prefixed  the  new  intro- 
duction in  praise  of  Lucullus,  together  with  his  proper 
title.1  The  second  and  greatly  improved  edition  was 
dedicated  to  Varro,  to  whom  Cicero  wrote  about  July 
12,  45  B.C.,  saying: 

1  could  not  refrain  from  making  manifest  by  such  literary 
composition  as  I  was  capable  of  producing  the  union  of  our 
tastes  and  affections.  I  have  therefore  composed  a  dialogue  pur- 
porting to  be  held  between  us  in  my  villa  at  Cumae,  Pomponius 
being  there  also.  I  have  assigned  to  you  the  doctrines  of  Anti- 
ochus,  which  I  thought  I  understood  to  have  your  approval;  I 
have  taken  those  of  Philo  for  myself.  I  imagine  that  when  you 
read  it  you  will  be  surprised  at  our  holding  a  conversation,  which 
we  never  did  hold ;  but  you  know  the  usual  method  of  dialogues.2 

1Ad  Att,  xiii,  32.  In  that  letter  he  says:  "'Catulus'  and  'Lucullus'  [the 
first  and  second  books  of  the  Academica]  I  think  you  have  already.  To 
these  books  a  new  preface  has  been  added,  in  which  both  of  them  are 
spoken  of  with  commendation.  I  wish  you  to  have  these  compositions,  and 
there  are  some  others.  You  did  not  quite  understand  what  I  said  to  you  1 
about  the  ten  legates,  I  suppose,  because  i  wrote  in  shorthand." 

2  Ad  Fam.,  ix,  6. 

378 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  379 

In  that  way  the  author  undertook  to  unfold  the  origin 
and  growth  of  the  Academic  philosophy,  with  the  various 
modifications   introduced  by  the   successive   expounders, 
with  the  purpose  of  demonstrating  the  superiority  of  the   Superiority 
principles  of  the  New  Academy,  as  represented  by  Philo,    Academy 
over  those  of  the  Old  Academy,  as  represented  by  Anti-   to  Old. 
ochus  of  Ascalon.     The  ultimate  object  in  view  was  the 
discovery  of  the  best  method  of  ascertaining  the  truth 
and  the  assignment  of  that  task  to  the  several  organs 
of  perception. 

Let  us  begin  then  with  the  senses  —  the  judgments  of  which  The  senses, 
are  so  clear  and  certain,  that  if  an  option  were  given  to  our 
nature,  and  if  some  god  were  to  ask  of  it  whether  it  is  content 
with  its  own  unimpaired  and  uncorrupted  senses,  or  whether  it 
desires  something  better,  I  do  not  see  what  more  it  could  ask  for. 
....  But  when  practice  and  skill  are  added,  so  that  one's  eyes 
are  charmed  by  a  picture,  and  one's  ears  by  songs,  who  is  there 
who  can  fail  to  see  what  great  power  there  is  in  the  senses?  How 
many  things  do  painters  see  in  shadows  and  in  projections  which 
we  do  not  see?  How  many  beauties  which  escape  us  in  music 
are  perceived  by  those  who  are  practiced  in  that  kind  of  accom- 
plishment? Men  who,  at  the  first  note  of  the  flute  player,  say: 
That  is  the  Antiope,  or  the  Andromache,  when  we  have  not  even 
a  suspicion  of  it.3 

It  would  be  hard,  indeed,  to  withhold  here  this  charm- 
ing bit  of  information  as  to  Cicero's  method  of  doing 
things,  contained  in  a  letter  to  Atticus  of  July  12 : 

But  pray,  why  in  the  world  are  you  in  such  a  fright  at  my  Academica 

bidding  you  to  send  the  books  to  Varro  at  your  own  risk?     Even  copied  on 

at  this  eleventh  hour,  if  you  have  any  doubt,  let  me  know.     Noth-  and  sent  to 

ing  can  be  more  finished  than  they  are After  all,  I  do  not  Varro  at  risk 

despair  of  the  book   securing  Varro's   approval,   and    I   am  not  of  Attlcus- 
sorry  that  my  plan  should  be  persisted  in,  as  I  have  gone  to  some 

3  Acad.,  ii,  7. 


38o 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Too  compli- 
cated for 
shorthand. 


Hortensius, 
ovDe  Philo- 
sophia. 

Plato's 
Timaeus. 


De  Finibus 
Bonorum  el 
Malorum. 


expense  in  long  paper ;  *  but  I  say  again  and  again,  it  shall  be  done 
at  your  risk.  Wherefore,  if  you  have  any  hesitation,  let  us  change 
to  Brutus,  for  he  too  is  an  adherent  of  Antiochus.  What  an 
excellent  likeness  of  the  Academy  itself,  with  its  instability,  its 
shifting  views,  now  this  way,  now  that!  But,  please  tell  me, 
did  you  really  like  my  letter  to  Varro?  May  I  be  hanged  if 
I  ever  undertake  another  task  quite  as  hard  as  this  one!  Con- 
sequently I  did  not  dictate  it  even  to  Tiro,  who  usually  takes 
down  whole  periods  at  a  breath,5  but  syllable  by  syllable  to  Spin- 
tharus.6 

Just  in  advance  of  the  Academica  was  composed  and 
published  the  dialogue  in  praise  of  philosophy  known  as 
Hortensius,  or  De  Philosophia,  a  considerable  number  of 
unimportant  fragments  of  which  have  been  preserved  by 
St.  Augustine,  who  bears  brilliant  testimony  to  its  worth 
in  his  Confessions  (3,4,  7)  ; 7  and,  after  the  completion  of 
the  Academica,  as  we  learn  from  the  introduction,  was 
executed  a  translation  of  Plato's  Timaeus,  a  considerable 
fragment  of  which  has  survived. 

Closely  connected  with  the  Academica,  both  as  to  time 
and  subject,  is  the  series  of  dialogues  dedicated  to  Brutus, 
known  as  De  Finibus  Bonorum  et  Malorum,  in  which  the 
views  of  the  Greek  schools,  specially  those  of  the  Stoics, 
Peripatetics  and  Epicurean,  are  discussed  and  compared 
so  far  as  they  involve  the  great  object  or  end  (finis)  to 
which  all  of  our  thoughts,  desires,  and  actions  should  be 
directed  —  the  Supreme  Good  considered  as  the  essence 
of  practical  wisdom.  In  a  letter  to  Atticus  in  June,  45  B.C., 
the  author  says: 

4  Macrocolla,  tiaKp6Ko\\a,  was  a  specially  large  and  expensive  kind  either 
of  paper  or  parchment.  For  a  second  reference  to  it,  see  Ad  Att.,  xvi,  3- 
Pliny  (N.  H.,  xiii,  80)  says  it  was  a  cubit  in  breadth. 

»  In  shorthand,  of  course.  The  Academica  was  too  difficult  for  that 
process.    It  had  to  be  taken  down  in  longhand,  "syllable  by  syllable. 

*  Ad  Att.,  xiii,  25. 

7  Dissert,  by  Otto  Plasberg,  Leipzig,  1892. 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  381 

What  I  have  lately  written  is  in  the  manner  of  Aristotle,  In  the 
where  the  conversation  is  so  managed  that  he  himself  has  the  r"anner 
principal  part.  I  have  finished  the  five  books  of  De  Finibus 
Bonorum  et  Malorum  so  as  to  give  the  Epicurean  doctrine  to 
Lucius  Torquatus,  the  Stoic  to  Marcus  Cato,  and  the  Peripatetic 
to  Marcus  Piso.  For  I  consider  that  their  being  dead  would 
preclude  all  jealousy.  This  new  work  Academica,  as  you  know, 
I  had  divided  between  Catulus,  Lucullus  and  Hortensius.8 

It  is  quite  probable  that  the  formal  presentation  of  the    Dedicated  to 
De  Finibus  to  Brutus  took  place  about  the  middle  of 
August  when  he  visited  Cicero  at  his  Tusculanum.9     No 
attempt  is  made  to  maintain  the  unity  of  scene  or  charac- 
ter throughout  the  five  books;  the  conversations  discuss- 
ing ideals  of  correct  conduct,  the  highest  good,  are  not 
supposed  to  have  taken  place  between  the  same  parties, 
at  the  same  times,  or  at  the  same  places.    The  first  book,   First  book  an 
an  apology  for  the  study  of  philosophy,  is  devoted  to  an  t\Pe°s3yof 
attack  upon  the  doctrines  of  the  Epicurean  school,  which  philosophy, 
drew  from  Torquatus  an  extended  statement  of  the  senti- 
ments really  entertained  by  Epicurus  and  the  most  notable 
of  his  followers  respecting  rjhovq,  in  reference  to  which  he 
said  there  had  been  much  misunderstanding  and  misrep- 
resentation which  he  proposed  to  remove.     In  the  second   Second,  an 
book  Cicero   himself  controverts  the   entire   scheme   of   t.     °"    * 
Epicurean  morality,  defining  pleasure  and  denying  to  it 
the  title  of  the  Supreme  Good,  setting  forth  at  the  same 
time  the  chief  arguments  with  which  the  Stoics  assail  the 
whole  system.     In  the  third  book  the  scene  is  laid  in  the   Third,  a 
library  of  the  young  Lucullus  in  his  villa  at  Tusculum   on^ics." 
where   Cicero   had  met   accidentally   Cato    (of   Utica). 
Passing  from  the  consideration  of  the  scrolls  by  which 
they  were  surrounded,  they  proceed  to  discuss  the  differ- 
ence between  the  ethics  of  the  Stoics  and  those  of  the  Old 

8  Ad  Att.,  xiii,  19.  .  °  Ibid.,  xiii,  44. 


382 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Academy  and  the  Peripatetics,  Cicero  contending  that  the 
differences  were  purely  verbal  and  not  real,  and  that  Zeno 
did  wrong  in  abandoning  Plato  and  Aristotle  in  order  to 
set  up  a  new  school.  In  reply  Cato  asserted  that  the  dif- 
ferences were  not  verbal,  but  real,  and  that  the  tenets 
held  by  the  Stoics  as  to  the  Supreme  Good  presented  purer 
and  higher  ideals  than  any  ever  entertained  before.  As 
spokesman  of  the  Stoic  school  Cato  said  in  substance : 

Cato  speaks  The  good  and  the  moral  are  convertible  terms.    Evil  and  the 

for  the  Stoics.  base  are  convertible  terms.  Utility  has  no  place  in  the  deter- 
mination of  the  good.  The  good  is  not  liable  to  argumentation, 
it  is  not  subject  to  relativity  or  degrees,  it  is  absolute  (34).  Pas- 
sions are  really  diseases  of  the  soul.  The  morally  good  must  not 
merely  be  contemplated  in  an  academic  way:  no,  it  must  be 
actively  sought.  All  material  things  are  ineffably  inferior  to  the 
splendor  and  the  absolute  glory  of  the  Stoic  Good,  as  the  gleam 
of  the  lantern  compares  with  the  sun,  or  a  drop  of  honey  dis- 
solved in  the  Aegean  Sea.  All  sins  are  equal.  All  forms  of 
righteousness  are  equal.10 

It  was  in  the  course  of  this  discussion  that  Cicero 
prompts  Cato,  who  had  recently  died  by  his  own  hand,  to 
express  himself  as  to  suicide.  The  essence  of  the  response 
was  that  the  propriety  of  the  act  must  always  depend  upon 
the  special  condition  of  the  individual: 

Therefore  the  question  of  remaining  in  life,  or  of  departing 
from  it,  is  to  be  measured  by  all  those  circumstances  which  I  have 
mentioned  above;  for  death  is  not  to  be  sought  for  by  those  men 
who  are  retained  in  life  by  virtue,  nor  by  those  who  are  destitute 
of  virtue.  But  it  is  often  the  duty  of  a  wise  man  to  depart  from 
life,  when  he  is  thoroughly  happy,  if  it  is  in  his  power  to  do  so 
opportunely;  and  that  is  living  in  a  manner  suitable  to  nature,  for 
this  maxim  is  that  living  happily  depends  upon  opportunity. 
Therefore  a  rule  is  laid  down  by  wisdom,  that  if  it  be  necessary 
a  wise  man  is  even  to  leave  her  himself.11 

10  Cf.  Sihler,  p.  376,  for  that  beautiful  restatement.         n  De  Fin.,  iii,  18. 


Expresses 
himself  as 
to  suicide. 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  383 

In  the  fourth  book  Cicero  himself  replies  to  Cato  by   Fourth,  Cice- 
restating  the   principal   arguments   with  which   the  phi-  JorStheePisfew 
losophers  of  the  New  Academy  answer  the  Stoics  in  such   Academy, 
a  way  as  to  confine  his  two  criticisms  to  certain  specific 
points.    He  makes  it  clear  that  he  cannot  fully  adopt  cer- 
tain of  their  tenets  which  he  enumerates.     Then  after 
stating  the  more  notable  of  the  Stoic  axioms  he  concludes 
by  saying:  that  "you   are  either  assuming  propositions 
which  are  not  admitted,  or  else  such  as,  even  if  granted, 
will  do  you  no  good". 

In  the  fifth  book  we  are  taken  back  to  the  Academy  at  Fifth, 
Athens  as  it  appeared  to  Cicero  in  79-78  B.C.,  when,  dur-  ^Athens61"7 
ing  his  eastern  tour,  he  was  there  under  Antiochus  and   79~78BC- 
Demetrius.     He  and  his  brother  Quintus,  his  cousin  Lu- 
cius, Atticus,  and  Piso  are  supposed  to  meet  in  the  Acad- 
emy where  the  last  named,  at  the  request  of  his  compan- 
ions, explains  the  precepts  of  Aristotle  and  his  school  as   Aristotle, 
to  the  Summum  Bonum.     After  Cicero  had  replied  by 
stating  the  objections  of  the  Stoics  to  the  Peripatetic  Sys- 
tem, without  pronouncing  any  judgment  of  his  own  as  to 
the  relative  contentions  of  the  warring  sects,   Piso  re- 
joined, saying: 

Do  you  not  grant  even  this  to  the  Peripatetics,  that  they  may  Piso's  re- 
say  that  the  life  of  all  good  —  that  is,  of  all  wise  men,  and  of  joinder  for 
men  adorned  with  every  virtue  —  has  in  all  its  parts  more  good 
than  evil?  Who  says  this?  The  Stoics  may  say  so.  By  no 
means.  But  do  not  those  very  men  who  measure  everything  by 
pleasure  and  pain,  say  loudly  that  the  wise  man  has  always  more 
things  which  he  likes  than  dislikes  ? 12 

After  we  have  weighed  the  accurate  and  impartial  expo- 
sitions of  the  doctrines  of  the  different  schools  as  stated 
herein  in  a  highly  polished  and  perspicuous  style,  remem- 

12  De  Fin.,  v,  31. 


384  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

bering  how  abstruse  and  subtle  many  of  the  points  in- 
volved really  are,  it  is  hard  to  differ  with  those  critics 
who    contend    that   while    this    treatise    is    perhaps    the  ] 
most  difficult,  it  is  at  the  same  time  the  most  perfect,  the  i 
most  finished  of  all  of  the  author's  philosophical  disser- 
tations. 

From  the  De  Finibus,  involving  the  ultimate  founda-  j 
tions  of  ethics,  the  transition  is  easy  to  the  incidental  ques- 
Tusculan        tions  concerning  ethics  discussed  in  the  Tusculan  Disputa- 
uputahons.   t-Qns  (Tusculanae  Disputationes),  begun,  no  doubt,  soon 
after  the  completion  of  the  Academica  and  De  Finibus 
in  the  year  45   B.C.,  and  concluded  before  the  ides  of  ' 
March,  44  B.C.    On  May  18,  of  that  year,  in  replying  to  ;. 
Atticus'  commendation  of  the  first  book,  the  author  says:  j 
"I  am  rejoiced  that  you  find  the  first  book  of  my  Tusculan 
Disputations  arms  you  against  the  fear  of  death;  there  is,  I 
in  fact,  no  other  refuge  either  better  or  more  available."  13 

Close  as  Cicero  now  was  to  the  shores  of  the  other  1 
country,  he  was  devoting  the  best  energies  of  his  mind  and 
soul  to  the  question  of  questions  to  which  the  centuries  ;; 
"If  aman        had  given  no  answer:  "If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again?" 
five  fab1?"    ^e  nac*  recentty  grappled  in  earnest  with  that  question,  j 
when,  after  the  death  of  his  beloved  Tullia  in  midwinter 
of  the  year  45  B.C.,  he  fled  to  Astura  by  the  Sea,  where 
he  had  "his  dark  hour  unseen"   in  "a  dense   and  wild  j 
wood,"  in  which  for  a  time  he  lived  apart  and  alone.   The 
The  outcome  of  his  meditations  was  the  Consolatio,  seu  de 

Consolatio.      Lucfu  m\nuenfo  14  (Consolation,  or  on  the  Lessening  of 
Grief),  a  few  inconsiderable  fragments  of  which  have  j 
been  preserved,  chiefly  by  Lactantius,  in  which  we  find  a 
touching  reecho  in  a  new  form  of  the  beliefs  and  aspira- 

™AdAtt.,*x,z.  iUbid.,xu,  20. 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  385 

tions  to  which  he  had   given   such   tender  and  earnest 
expression  in  "Scipio's  Dream." 

As  Cicero's  last  words  on  the  subject  we  have  the  Tus- 
culan  Disputations  which  contain,  in  five  books,  the  fruits 
of  as  many  conferences  held  with  certain  friends  at  his 
Tusculan  villa  in  reference  to  five  subjects  which  he  thus 
restates,  a  little  later  in  the  year,  in  the  De  Divinatione : 

In  five  other  books  of  Tusculan  Disputations,  I  have  expressed  Five  great 
what  most  conduces  to  render  life  happy.  In  the  first,  I  treat  surjJects- 
'  of  the  contempt  of  death;  in  the  second,  of  the  endurance  of  pain 
J  and  sorrow;  in  the  third,  of  the  mitigation  of  sorrow;  in  the 
fourth,  of  the  other  perturbations  of  the  mind;  and  in  the  fifth, 
I  elaborate  that  most  glorious  of  all  philosophic  doctrines  —  the 
all-sufficiency  of  virtue,  which  can  secure  our  perpetual  bliss 
without  extraneous  aids  and  appliances.15 

In  advocating,  in  the  first  book,  a  contempt  of  death,  First  book, 
the  contention  is  that  it  cannot  be  considered  an  evil  to  °nthec°n- 

tempt  or 

either  the  living  or  the  dead,  no  matter  whether  the  soul  death, 
be  mortal  or  immortal.  The  investigation  into  the  real 
nature  of  death  thus  made  necessary  led  to  a  review  of 
philosophic  opinion  as  to  the  soul,  the  contentions  in 
favor  of  immortality  being  drawn  in  the  main  from  the 
Stoics  and  from  the  Phaedo,  or  the  Phaedrus  of  Plato. 
In  referring  to  the  Consolatio,  of  which  the  Disputations 
are  really  only  a  sequel,  the  author  says: 

As  this  is  my  opinion,  I  have  explained  it  in  these  very  few  Stoic  and 
words,  in  my  book  on  Consolation.  The  origin  of  the  soul  of  ^atonic 
man  is  not  to  be  upon  earth  for  there  is  nothing  in  the  soul  of  a 
mixed  or  concrete  nature,  or  that  has  any  appearance  of  being 
[formed  or  made  out  of  the  earth ;  nothing  even  humid,  or  airy,  or 
fiery.  For  what  is  there  in  natures  of  that  kind  which  has  the 
power  of  memory,  understanding,  or  thought?  which  can  recol- 

15  De  Div.,  ii,  1. 


386 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Nature 
of  the  soul. 


It  must  be 
eternal. 


Second  book, 
on  the  bear- 
ing of  pain. 


Third  book, 
on  the  miti- 
gation of 
sorrow. 


lect  the  past,  foresee  the  future,  and  comprehend  the  present? 
For  these  capabilities  are  confined  to  divine  beings;  nor  can  we 
discover  any  source  from  which  man  could  derive  them,  but  from 
God.  There  is,  therefore,  a  peculiar  nature  and  power  in  the 
soul,  distinct  from  those  natures  which  are  known  and  familiar 
to  us.  Whatever,  then,  that  is  which  thinks,  and  which  has 
understanding,  and  volition,  and  a  principle  of  life,  is  heavenly 
and  divine,  and  on  that  account  must  necessarily  be  eternal;  nor 
can  God  himself,  who  is  known  to  us,  be  conceived  to  be  anything 
else  except  a  soul  free  and  unembarrassed,  distinct  from  all  mental 
concretion,  acquainted  with  everything  and  giving  motion  to 
everything  and  itself  endowed  with  perpetual  motion.16 

In  the  second  book,  devoted  to  the  bearing  of  pain,  the 
contention  of  Aristippus  and  Epicurus  that  it  is  the  great- 
est of  all  evils,  is  combated  after  the  manner  of  Zeno, 
Aristo,   and   Pyrrho,   who   claimed  that   it  was   not  an  4 
evil  at  all: 

Even  as  in  a  battle,  the  dastardly  and  timorous  soldier  throws 
away  his  shield  on  the  first  appearance  of  an  enemy,  and  rung! 
as  fast  as  he  can,  and  on  that  account  loses  his  life  sometimes, 
though  he  has  never  received  even  one  wound,  when  he  whoi- 
stands  his  ground  has  nothing  of  the  sort  happen  to  him ;  so, 
they  who  cannot  bear  the  appearance  of  pain  throw  themselves 
away,  and  give  themselves  up  to  affliction  and  dismay,  but  they 
that  oppose  it  often  come  off  more  than  a  match  for  it.17 

In  the  third  book,  devoted  to  the  mitigation  of  sorrow, 
the  tenets  of  the  Epicureans,  of  the  Peripatetics,  of  the 
Cyrenaics,  and  of  Crantor  are  all  found  wanting  when 
weighed  in  the  balance  against  those  of  the  Stoics: 

But  how  various,  and  how  bitter,  are  the  roots  of  grief !    What- 
ever they  are,  I  propose,  after  having  felled  the  trunk,  to  destroy  : 
them  all ;  even  if  it  should  be  necessary,  by  allotting  a  separate  ; 
dissertation  to  each,  for  I  have  leisure  enough  to  do  so,  whatever 

10  Tusc.  Disp.,  i,  27.  17  Ibid.,  ii,  28. 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  387 

time  it  may  take  up.  But  the  principle  of  every  anxiety  is  the 
same,  though  they  may  appear  under  different  names.  For  envy 
is  uneasiness;  so  are  emulation,  detraction,  anguish,  sorrow,  sad- 
ness, tribulation,  lamentation,  vexation,  grief,  trouble,  affliction, 
and  despair.  The  Stoics  define  all  those  different  feelings,  and 
all  those  words  which  I  have  mentioned  belong  to  different  things, 
and  do  not  as  they  seem,  express  the  same  ideas,  but  they  are  to  a 
certain  extent  distinct,  as  I  shall  make  appear  perhaps  in  another 
place.  These  are  those  fibres  of  the  roots,  which,  as  I  said  at 
first,  must  be  tracked  back  and  cut  off,  and  destroyed,  so  that 
not  one  shall  remain.18 

Continuing  that  theme  in  the  fourth  book,  relating  to   Fourth,  wise 
other  perturbations  of  the  mind,  the  author  undertakes   fr0mper- 
to  demonstrate  that  a  really  wise  man  is  absolutely  exempt  turbations. 
from  all  such  perturbations  (ariimi  perturbatione).  Turn- 
ing again  to  the  Stoics,  especially  to  Zeno  and  Chrysippus, 
for  definitions,  he  quotes  the  former  (6)   as  saying  that 
"a  perturbation"  (which  he  calls  a  irdOos)  is  a  commotion 
of  the  mind  repugnant  to  reason,  and  against  nature.     It 
is  therefore  a  disease  (38)  which  must  be  cured  by  phi- 
losophy: 

We  must  either  deny  that  reason  can  effect  anything,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  nothing  can  be  done  right  without  reason;  or 
else,  since  philosophy  depends  on  the  deductions  of  reason,  we 
must  seek  from  her,  if  we  would  be  good  or  happy,  every  help 
and  assistance  for  living  well  and  happily. 

The  fifth  book,  after  propounding  the  question  whether   Fifth,  virtue 
virtue  alone  is  sufficient  to  insure  a  happy  life,  answers  it  tojnsurea 
I  in  the  affirmative,  thus  accepting  in  its  fullness  that  great   happy  life. 
1  moral  dogma  of  the  Stoics  rather  than  the  more  guarded 
i  tenets  of  the  Academics  and  Peripatetics: 

These  then   are  the  opinions,  as  I  think,  that  are  held   and 
;  defended:  the  first  four  are  simple  ones;  "that  nothing  is  good 

18  Tusc.  Disp.,  iii,  34. 


388  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

but  what  is  honest,"  according  to  the  Stoics:  "nothing  good  but 
pleasure,"  as  Epicurus  maintains:  "nothing  good  but  freedom  from 
pain,"  as  Hieronymus  asserts:  "nothing  good  but  the  enjoyment 
of  the  principal,  or  all,  or  the  greatest  goods  of  nature,"  as 
Carneades  maintained  against  the  Stoics  —  these  are  all  simple, 
the  others  are  mixed  propositions. 

Now  let  us  see  what  weight  these  men  have  in  them,  excepting 

the  Stoics,  whose  opinion  I  think  I  have  sufficiently  defended 

For  even  as  trading  is  said  to  be  lucrative,  and  farming  advan- 
tageous, not  because  the  one  never  meets  with  any  loss,  nor  the 
other  with  any  damage  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  but 
because  they  succeed  in  general,  so  life  may  properly  be  called 
happy,  not  from  its  being  entirely  made  up  of  good  things,  but 
because  it  abounds  with  these  to  a  great  and  considerable  degree. 
By  this  way  of  reasoning,  then,  a  happy  life  may  attend  virtue 
even  to  the  moment  of  execution.10 

When  the  continuous  and  persistent  argument  which 

runs  through  the  five  books,  each  complete  in  itself  and 

independent  of  the  rest,  is  viewed  as  a  connected  whole, 

it  is  impossible  not  to  see  that  each  part  contributes  its 

Everyman      quota  to  the  ultimate  conclusion  that  every  man,  if  he  is 

cancreate  •       possesses  within  himself  the  power  to  create  and 

and  preserve  r 

his  own  preserve  his  own  happiness.     But  when  the  btoics  said 

happiness.       that  g  man  must  ylve  according  to  nature,  they  did  not 

mean  that  he  must  obey  his  own  particular  nature;  they 
meant  that  he  must  make  his  life  conformable  to  the 
nature  of  the  whole  of  things.  Such  was  the  basis  of 
their  ethical  system  in  which  morality  was  closely  united 
with  philosophy.  The  truly  wise  man  was  supposed  to 
possess  all  knowledge;  in  that  way  he  was  perfect  and 
sufficient  in  himself,  despising  all  that  subjected  to  its 
power  the  rest  of  mankind.  Such  a  man  might  feel  pain, 
but  is  not  subdued  by  it. 

Reference   should  here  be  made  to   the  monograph 

™Tusc.Disp.,v,  30-31- 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  389 

upon  the  six  favorite  Paradoxes  of  the  Stoics  (Paradoxa  Paradoxa 
btoicorum),  a  ]eu  a  esprit  constructed  as  a  medium  or 
covert  attacks  upon  Hortensius,  Crassus,  and  Lucullus, 
and  of  bitter  denunciations  against  Clodius.  The  fourth 
paradox  contains  conclusive  evidence  that  it  was  composed 
before  the  death  of  Clodius  (52  B.C.)  ;  the  sixth  that  it 
was  composed  prior  to  the  death  of  Crassus  (53  B.C.). 
The  preface  addressed  to  Brutus  must  have  been  com- 
posed early  in  46  B.C.,  as  Cato  is  spoken  of  as  still  among 
the  living.  There  is  also  a  statement  that  the  De  Claris 
Oratoribus  was  already  published.  This  parvum  opus- 
culum,  which  was  evidently  some  time  in  the  making,  is 
thus  described  by  its  author  in  his  address  to  Marcus 
Brutus: 

I    have,    for    amusement,    digested    into    commonplaces    those   Described 
topics  which  the  Stoics  scarcely  prove  in  their  retirement  and  in      y  lts  aut  or* 
their  schools.     Such  topics  are  termed,  even  by  themselves,  para- 
doxes, because  they  are  remarkable,  and  contrary  to  the  opinion 
of  all  men. 

After  stating  the  first,  that  the  moral  good  is  the  only   The  moral 
good,  the  author  adds :  theonlygood. 

Can  any  bad  man  enjoy  a  good  thing?  Or  is  it  possible  for 
a  man  not  to  be  good,  when  he  lives  in  the  very  abundance  of 
good  things? 

The  second,  which  asserts  that  a  man  who  is  virtuous   The  virtuous 
is  destitute  of  no  requisite  of  a  happy  life,  is  followed  by 
the  statement  that  — 

....  we  have  seen  Caius  Marius;  he,  in  my  opinion,  was  in 
prosperity  one  of  the  happiest,  and  in  adversity  one  of  the  greatest 
of  men,  than  which  man  can  have  no  happier  lot. 

The  third,  which  asserts  that  good  and  evil  admit  of  G?°d  and 
no  degrees,  that  all  misdeeds  are  in  themselves  equal  and    no  degrees. 


destitute  of 
nothing. 


390  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

all  good  actions  equally  meritorious,  is  followed  by  the 
statement  that  it  matters  not  whether  — 

....  a  pilot  oversets  a  ship  laden  with  gold  or  one  laden  with 
straw;  in  value  there  is  some  difference,  but  in  the  ignorance  of 
the  pilot  there  is  none. 

Every  fool  The  fourth,  which  asserts  that  every  fool  is  a  madman, 

a  madman.        jg  f  oUowed  by  this  flmg  at  ClodiuS  ! 

You  have  perpetrated  a  massacre  in  the  Forum,  and  occupied 
the  temples  with  bands  of  armed  ruffians;  you  have  set  on  fire 
the  temples  of  the  gods  and  the  houses  of  private  citizens.  If 
you  are  a  citizen,  in  what  sense  was  Spartacus  an  enemy?  Can 
you  be  a  citizen,  through  whom,  for  a  time,  the  state  had  no 
existence?  And  do  you  apply  to  me  your  own  designation,  when 
all  mankind  thought  on  my  departure  Rome  herself  was  gone 
into  exile?  Thou  most  frantic  of  all  madmen,  will  thou  never 
look  around  thee? 

Every  fool  The  fifth,  which  asserts  that  every  fool  is  a  slave,  the 

wise  man  alone  is  free,  is  followed  by  the  statement  that 
no  one  can  exercise  control  over  others  — 

....  who  cannot  command  his  own  passions.  Let  him  in  the 
first  place  bridle  his  lusts,  let  him  despise  pleasures,  let  him  subdue 
anger,  let  him  get  the  better  of  avarice,  let  him  expunge  the  other 
stains  on  his  character,  and  then  when  he  himself  is  no  longer  in 
subjection  to  disgrace  and  degradation,  let  him  then,  I  say,  begin 
to  command  others. 

Only  the  wise       The  sixth,  which  asserts  that  the  wise  man  alone  is  rich, 
man  is  rich.     ig  followed  by  the  statement  that— 

....  the  amount  of  wealth  is  not  defined  by  the  valuation  of 
the  census,  but  by  habit  and  mode  of  life;  not  to  be  greedy  is 
wealth,  not  to  be  extravagant  is  revenue.  Above  all  things,  to  be 
content  with  what  we  possess  is  the  greatest  and  most  secure  of 
riches.  If  therefore  they  who  are  the  most  skillful  valuers  of 
property  highly  estimate  fields  and  certain  sites,  because  such 
estates  are  the  least  liable  to  injury,  how  much  more  valuable  is 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  39* 

virtue,  which  never  can  be  wrested,  never  can  be  filched  from  us, 
which  cannot  be  lost  by  fire  or  by  shipwreck. 

The  most  charming,  perhaps,  of  all  Cicero's  essays  on 
the  philosophy  of  morals,  by  reason  of  its  purity  of  lan- 
guage, its  vividness  of  illustration,  its  majesty  of  tone,  is 
his  dissertation  on  old  age  (Cato  Major,  De  Senectute),  DeSenectute. 
framed  at  the  end  of  45  B.C.  or  at  the  commencement  of 
44  B.C.  We  first  hear  of  it  in  a  letter  written  from 
Puteoli,  on  May  1 1  of  the  year  last  named,  by  Cicero 
(then  sixty-two)  to  Atticus  (then  sixty-six)  in  which  the 
writer  states: 

I  must  read  over  again  and  again  my  Cato  Major,  which  is 
dedicated  to  you.  For  old  age  is  spoiling  my  temper.  Every- 
thing puts  me  in  a  rage.  But  for  me  life  is  over.  The  rising 
generation  must  look  to  it.  Take  care  of  my  affairs  as  you 
alwa}'s  do.20 

There  is  a  touch  of  pathetic  humor  in  the  contrast  Pathetic 
between  the  facts  as  stated  in  the  letter  to  his  other  self  ^Lnf,^ 
and  the  theories  as  to  the  happy  conditions  attending  old   and  theory, 
age  which  the  essay  in  question  describes.     It  appears 
from  the  brief  introductory  dialogue  that  Scipio  Aemili- 
anus  and  Laelius  paid  a  visit  during  the  consulship  of 
Flamininus  and  Balbus   (150  B.C.),  to  Cato  the  censor, 
then  eighty-four  years  old,  a  rigid  Stoic  who  was  endowed 
with  wonderful  activity  of  body  and  freshness  of  mind. 
The  possessor  of  such  unusual  blessings  when  called  upon 
by  Laelius  and  Scipio,  both  "hopeful  of  becoming  old 
men,"  to  explain  uby  what  methods  we  may  most  easily  be 
able  to  bear  the  increasing  burden  of  old  age,"  cheerfully 
complied  by  pronouncing  a  discourse  in  which  he  under- 
took to  state  and  refute  the  four  principal  complaints 

20  Ad  AtU,  xiv,  21. 


392 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cato's 

attempt  to 
argue  away 
the  miseries 
of  old  age. 


Case 

of  Maximum 


Noble  dis- 
sertation on 
immortality. 


generally  urged  as  to  the  miseries  that  beset  the  close  of 
a  long  life.  Cato  says  that  old  age  is  generally  consid- 
ered a  burden;  first  because  it  is  supposed  to  incapacitate 
a  man  for  active  business;  second,  because  of  the  dimin- 
ishing vigor  of  the  body;  third,  because  of  the  diminish- 
ing capacity  for  pleasure;  fourth,  because  it  comes  like 
the  herald  with  the  inverted  torch,  to  announce  the  near 
approach  of  death.  The  first  three  propositions  are  out- 
flanked by  the  only  maneuver  possible,  the  citation  of  par- 
ticular cases  of  highly  favored  individuals  who  were  abl( 
to  make  themselves  exceptions  to  the  general  rule,  eithei 
by  retaining  their  capacities  for  an  unusual  length  of  time, 
or  by  being  quite  indifferent  to  the  loss  of  them. 

I,  as  a  young  man  [says  Cato]  was  as  fond  of  Quintus  Maxi- 
mus,  who  recovered  Tarentum  when  an  old  one,  as  if  he  had  been 

of  my  own  age He  both  carried  on  campaigns  like  a 

young  man  when  he  was  quite  old,  and   by  his   temper  cooled 

Hannibal  when  impetuous  from  the  fire  of  youth We 

must  make  a  stand,  Scipio  and  Laelius,  against  old  age,  and  its 
faults  must  be  atoned  for  by  activity;  we  must  fight,  as  it  were, 
against  disease  and  in  like  manner  against  old  age.  Regard  must 
be  paid  to  health ;  moderate  exercises  must  be  adopted ;  so  much 
of  meat  and  drink  must  be  taken  that  the  strength  may  be 
recruited,  not  oppressed.21 

It  was,  however,  in  answer  to  the  fourth  objection  that 
old  age  is  the  relentless  herald  of  death,  that  Cicero,  j 
whose  Stoic  conceptions  of  immortality  and  of  a  Jife 
beyond  the  grave  had  taken  on  their  final  form,  put  forth 
his  full  strength.  The  essence  of  his  thoughts  without  a 
change  of  words  may  thus  be  condensed: 

Pythagoras  forbids  us  to  abandon  the  station  or  post  of  life 
.without  the  orders  of  our  commander,  that  is  of  God.     There 
21  De  Senect.,  iv,  n. 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY 


393 


is  indeed  a  saying  of  the  wise  Solon,  in  which  he  declares  that  he 
does  not  wish  his  own  death  to  be  unattended  by  the  grief  and 
lamentation  of  friends.  He  wishes,  I  suppose,  that  he  should  be 
dear  to  his  friends.  But  I  know  not  whether  Ennius  does  not 
say  with  more  propriety,  "Let  no  one  pay  me  honor  with  tears 
nor  celebrate  my  funeral  with  mourning!"  He  conceives  that 
a  death  ought  not  to  be  lamented  which  is  to  be  followed  by 
immortality.  Indeed  I  do  not  see  why  I  should  not  venture  to 
tell  you  what  I  myself  think  concerning  death ;  because  I  fancy 
I  see  it  so  much  the  more  clearly  in  proportion  as  I  am  less  distant 
from  it. 

I  used  to  hear  that  Pythagoras  and  the  Pythagoreans,22  who 
were  all  but  our  neighbors,  and  formerly  called  the  Italian  philos- 
ophers, had  no  doubt  that  we  possess  souls  derived  from  the 
universal  divine  mind.  Moreover,  the  arguments  were  conclusive 
to  me,  which  Socrates  delivered  on  the  last  day  of  his  life  con- 
cerning the  immortality  of  the  soul  —  he  who  was  pronounced 
by  the  oracle  of  Apollo  the  wisest  of  all  men. 

But  why  say  more?  I  have  thus  persuaded  myself,  such  is 
my  belief:  that  since  such  is  the  activity  of  our  souls,  so  tenacious 
their  memory  of  things  past,  and  their  sagacity  regarding  things 
future  —  so  many  arts,  so  many  sciences,  so  many  discoveries  — 
that  the  nature  which  comprises  these  qualities  cannot  fail  to 
be  immortal;  and  since  the  mind  is  ever  in  action  and  has  no 
source  of  motion,  because  it  moves  itself,  I  believe  that  it  never 
will  find  any  end  of  motion,  because  it  never  will  part  from 
itself ;  and  since  the  nature  of  soul  is  uncompounded,  and  has  not 
in  itself  any  admixture  heterogeneous  and  dissimilar  to  itself,  I 
maintain  that  it  cannot  undergo  dissolution ;  and  if  this  be  not 
possible,  it  cannot  perish. 

Does  it  not  seem  to  you  that  the  soul  which  sees  more  and 
farther,  sees  that  it  is  passing  to  a  better  state,  while  that  body, 
whose  vision  is  duller,  does  not  see  it?  .  .  .  .  Oh,  glorious  day! 
when  I  shall  depart  to  that  divine  company  and  assemblage  of 

22  The  souls  of  men  were  represented  by  the  Pythagoreans  as  light  par- 
ticles of  the  universal  soul  diffused  through  the  whole  world  (Cic,  De  Nat. 
Deor.,  i,  n).  While  the  souls  of  men  proceeded  from  the  sun,  which  was  a 
mere  reflex  of  the  central  fire,  the  souls  of  the  gods  proceeded  directly  from 
the  central  fire  itself. 


Death, 
because 
followed  by 
immortality, 
not  to  be 
lamented. 


Soul  cannot 

undergo 

dissolution. 


394  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

spirits,  and  quit  this  terrible  and  polluted  scene.     For  I  shall  go 

not  only  to  those  great  men  of  whom  I  have  spoken  before,  but 

also  to  my  friend  Cato,  than  whom  never  was  better  man  born, 

nor  more  distinguished  for  pious  affection ;  whose  body  was  burned 

by  me,  whereas,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  fitting  that  mine  should 

be  burned  by  him.     But  his  soul  not  deserting  me,  but  oft  looking 

back,  no  doubt  departed  to  those  regions  whither  I  saw  that  I 

myself  was   destined   to  go,   which,   though   a  sorrow  to  me,   I 

seemed  patiently  to  endure.     Not  that  I  bore  it  with  indifference, 

but  I  comforted  myself  with  the  recollection  that  the  separation 

and   distance  between  us  would  not  continue   long.     For  these 

reasons,   O   Scipio    (since  you  said  that  you  with   Laelius  were 

accustomed  to  wonder  at  this),  old  age  is  tolerable  to  me,  and 

Why  old  age    not  only  not  irksome,  but  even  delightful.     And  if  I  am  in  error 

,?.,,,         in  believing  that  the  soul  of  man  is  immortal,  I  err  willingly: 
delightful.  ,  t  j     •  -•,      vr     i  7>  u  • 

nor  have  1  any  desire  while  life  lasts  to  eradicate  the  error  in 

which  I  take  delight.  But  if,  after  death  (as  some  small  philoso- 
phers think),  I  shall  feel  nothing,  I  have  no  fear  that  those 
departed  philosophers  will  ridicule  my  error.23 

No  matter  whether  or  no  Cicero  was  indebted  for  the 
plan  of  his  treatise  to  the  Stoic  philosopher  Aristo  of 
Chios,  certain  it  is  that  he  poured  out  his  final  convictions 
as  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  as  ripened  under  the 
Stoic  theory  of  natural  law  with  its  source  in  a  single  God, 
in  Cato's  animated  discourse  to  Scipio  and  Laelius.  That 
he  did  so  con  amove  we  cannot  doubt  because  he  says: 

For  my  part  I  have  found  the  composition  of  this  book  so 
delightful,  that  it  has  not  only  wiped  off  all  the  annoyance  of 
old  age,  but  has  rendered  old  age  even  easy  and  delightful. 

The  sequel  to  the  treatise  on  Old  Age  is  the  treatise  on 

Laelius,  Friendship  (Laelius,  De  Amicitia),  in  which  is  embodied 

DeAmicitia.    &   conversat;on   supposed   to   have   taken  place  between 

Laelius   and   his   two   sons-in-law,    C.    Fannius   and  Q. 

28  De  Senect.,  xx,  xxi,  xxiii. 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  395 

Mucius  Scaevola,  not  long  after  the  mysterious  assas- 
sination of  Scipio  Amaelianus  (129  B.C.),  and  repeated 
in  after  years  to  Cicero  by  Scaevola.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered here  that  it  was  this  Scipio  Africanus  the  Younger 
who  was  the  friend  of  Panaetius,  the  real  founder  of 
Roman  Stoicism  about  the  year  140  B.C.;  that  another 
member  of  that  first  group  of  Roman  Stoics  was  Laelius, 
the  intimate  friend  of  Scipio  and  Panaetius;  that  his  son- 
in-law  Scaevola,  known  as  "the  augur,"  was  an  eminent 
Stoic  and  the  first  law  teacher  of  Cicero;  and  that  his 
other  son-in-law  Fannius,  who  obtained  some  distinction 
as  a  historian,  was  also  of  the  same  sect.24  "A  family 
succession  was  maintained  through  two  daughters  of 
Laelius,  so  that  here  we  may  perhaps  recognize  the  begin- 
ning of  the  deservedly  famous  'Stoic  marriages.'  "  24a  It  Famous 
is  not  without  significance  that  Cicero  took  the  dramatis 
personae  of  the  De  Amicitia  from  this  famous  Stoic  group 
with  Laelius,  the  nearest  perhaps  of  all  the  Romans  to 
the  ideal  of  the  Stoic  sage,  as  the  chief  speaker,  as  the 
Stoic  Cato  had  been  in  the  De  Senectute.  To  reproduce 
\  his  own  words  in  the  address  to  Atticus: 

But  as  in  the  Cato  Major,  which  was  addressed  to  you  on  the 

,   subject  of  old   age,   I  have  introduced   Cato  when  an  old  man 

;   conversing,    because    there   seemed   no   person   better   adapted    to 

speak  of  that  period  of  life  than  he,  who  had  been  an  old  man 

for  so  long  a  time,  and  in  that  old  age  had  been  so  pre-eminently 

!  prosperous;   so  when   I   had  heard   from  our  ancestors  that  the 

attachment  of  Caius   Laelius   and   Publius  Scipio  was  especially    Attachment 
"  worthy  of  record,  the  character  of  Laelius  seemed  to  me  a  suit-        Laelius 
'■  able  one  to  deliver  these  very  observations  on  friendship  which 
I  Scaevola  remembered  to  have  been  spoken  by  him.25 

24  Brut.,  26.  See  also  De  Orat.,  i,  11. 
24a  Arnold,  Roman  Stoicism,  p.  383. 

25  De  Amicit.,  1. 


"Stoic 
marriages.1 


Friendship 
a  complete 
union  of 
feeling  on 
all  subjects. 


396  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

The  deeper  and  real  reason  for  the  selection  was  that 
Stoicism  in  its  Roman  form,  the  form  he  had  done  so 
much  to  fashion,  had  taken  such  complete  possession  of 
Cicero's  mind  and  soul  in  his  later  years  as  to  overshadow 
all  of  his  discourses,  political,  social,  and  spiritual.  As 
spokesman  of  the  Stoics  Laelius  says: 

Let  us  consider  these  worthy  of  the  name  of  good  men,  as  they 
have  been  accounted  such,  because  they  follow  (as  far  as  men 
are  able)  nature,  which  is  the  best  guide  of  a  good  life.  For  I 
seem  to  myself  to  have  this  view,  that  we  are  so  formed  by 
nature,  that  there  should  be  a  certain  social  tie  among  all ;  stronger, 

however,  as  each  approaches  nearer  to  us Now  friendship 

is  nothing  else  than  a  complete  union  of  feeling  on  all  subjects, 
divine  and  human,  accompanied  by  a  kindly  feeling  and  attach- 
ment  In  the  first  place,  to  whom  can  life  be  worth  living, 

as  Ennius  says,  who  does  not  repose  on  the  mutual  kind  feeling 
of  some  friend?  What  can  be  more  delightful  than  to  have  one 
to  whom  you  can  speak  on  all  subjects  as  to  yourself?  .  .  .  .  j 
Besides,  he  who  looks  on  a  true  friend  looks,  as  it  were,  upon  a 
kind  of  image  of  himself:  wherefore  friends,  though  absent,  are 
still  present ;  though  in  poverty,  they  are  rich ;  though  weak,  yet 
in  the  enjoyment  of  health;  and,  what  is  still  more  difficult  to 

assert,  though  dead,  they  are  alive 

In  true  friendship  there  is  nothing  false,  and  nothing  pretended ; 
and  whatever  belongs  to  it  is  sincere  and  spontaneous.  Where- 
fore friendship  seems  to  me  to  have  sprung  rather  from  nature 
than  from  a  sense  of  want,  and  more  from  an  attachment  of 
the  mind  with  certain  feeling  of  affection,  than  from  a  calculation 

how  much  advantage  it  would  afford So  not  only  will 

Has  its  ori-  the  greatest  advantages  be  derived  from  friendship,  but  its  origin 
gin  in  nature.  from  nature  rather  than  from  a  sense  of  weakness,  will  be  at 
once  more  impressive  and  more  true.  For  if  it  were  expediency  j 
that  cemented  friendships,  the  same  when  changed  would  dissolve 
them ;  but  because  nature  can  never  change,  therefore  true  friend- 
ships are  eternal 

Wherefore  let  us  consider  first,  if  you  please,  how  far  love 
ought  to  proceed  in  friendship It  is  no  excuse  for  a  fault, 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  397 

that  you  committed  it  for  a  friend's  sake;  for  since  the  belief  in 
another's  excellence  was  that  which  conciliated  friendship,  it  is 
hard  for  friendship  to  continue  when  you  have  apostasized  from 

virtue Let  this  law  therefore  be  established  in  friendship, 

viz.,  that  we  should  neither  ask  things  that  are  improper,  nor 

grant  them  when  asked I  think,  therefore,  we  must  adopt 

these  limitations,  that  when  the  character  of  friends  is  correct 

then  there  should  be  a  community  between  them  of  all  things,  of    When  there 

purpose   and   will,   without  any  exception There   should    shouIdbea 

be  no  satiety  of  friendship  as  of  other  things:  everything  which    in  all  things, 
is  oldest   (as  those  wines  which  bear  age  well)  ought  to  be  the 
sweetest;  and  that  is  true  which  is  sometimes  said,  "many  bushels 
of  salt  must  be  eaten  together"  before  the  duty  of  friendship  can 
be  fulfilled.  25a 

From  speculative  and  moral  philosophy  the  transition 
is  easy  to  the  philosophy  of  religion,   embodied  in  the 
treatise  on  the  Nature  of  the  Gods  (De  Natura  Deorum),  DeNatura 
published  immediately  after  the   Tusculan  Disputations  D'orum.tiie 

r  '  x  philosophy 

and  immediately  before  the  De  Divinatione,  all  three  of  religion, 
works  appearing  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  44  B.C. 
When  we  contemplate  the  marvellous  richness  and  vol- 
ume of  Cicero's  intellectual  output  during  the  last  three 
years  of  his  life  (46-43  B.C.),  it  is  impossible  not  to  con- 
clude that  within  that  time  he,  with  almost  incredible 
rapidity,  cast  into  final  form  materials  collected  by  de- 
grees from  his  youth  up.  He  so  states  at  the  beginning 
of  this  book: 

I  observe  that  the  several  books  which  I  have  lately  published 
have  occasioned  much  noise  and  various  discourse  about  them; 
some  people  wondering  what  the  reason  has  been  why  I  have 
applied  myself  so  suddenly  to  the  study  of  philosophy,  and  others 
desirous  of  knowing  what  my  opinion  is  on  such  subjects.  I  like- 
wise perceive  that  many  people  wonder  at  my  following  that 
philosophy  [the  Academic]  chiefly  which  seems  to  take  away  the 

25*De  Amicit.,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  II,  12,  19. 


398  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

light,  and  to  bury  and  develop  things  in  a  kind  of  artificial  night, 
and  that  I  should  so  unexpectedly  have  taken  up  the  defense  of 
a  school  [the  Stoic]  that  has  been  so  long  neglected  and  forgotten. 
But  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  this  application  to  philo- 
sophical studies  has  been  sudden  on  my  part.  I  have  applied 
myself  to  them  from  my  youth  at  no  small  expense  of  time  and 

trouble But  if  any  should  ask  what  has  induced  me,  in 

the  decline  of  life,  to  write  on  these  subjects,  nothing  is  more 

easily  answered;   for  when   I   found   myself  entirely   disengaged 

from  business,  and  the  Commonwealth  reduced  to  the  necessity 

of  being  governed  by  the  direction  and  care  of  one  man  [Caesar], 

Cicero  I  thought  it  becoming,  for  the  sake  of  the  public  to  instruct  my 

he  expounds     countrymen  in  philosophy,  and  that  it  would  be  of  importance, 

philosophy       and  much  to  the  honor  and  commendation  of  our  city  to  have 

in  the  Latin      sucn  great  and  excellent  subjects  introduced  in  the  Latin  tongue.20 
tongue. 

Earliest  indi-       The  earliest  indication  of  preparation  for  the  convo- 
cation o  sition  of  this  particular  work  is  to  be  found  in  a  letter  to 

preparation  r 

for  the  work.  Atticus  written  in  July  or  August  of  the  year  45  B.C.,  in 
which  the  author  says:  "Please  send  me  the  books  of 
which  I  wrote  to  you  before,  and  especially  Phaedrus27 
On  Gods."28  Nothing  could  be  plainer  than  Cicero's  jj 
design  as  a  skilful  advocate  to  give  to  Plato,  speaking 
through  the  Phaedrus  and  the  Phaedo,  to  the  Epicureans 
and  to  the  Peripatetics,  a  full  and  fair  hearing  in  order  to 
turn  the  scale,  with  greater  emphasis,  in  favor  of  the 
Stoics  whose  cause  he  was  with  great  tact  and  subtlety 
really  defending. 

In  setting  the  stage  in  such  a  way  as  to  carry  out  that 
design,  a  conversation  is  reproduced  which  is  supposed 
to  have  taken  place  in  Cicero's  presence  about  the  year 
76  B.C.  in  the  house  of  the  pontifex  maximus,  C.  Aurelius 

26  De  Nat.  Deor.,  i,  3,  4. 

27  An  Epicurean  philosopher  who  came  to  Rome  in  88  B.C.,  where  he 
excited  Cicero's  interest.  —  Ad  Fam.,  xiii,  i;  De  Fin.,  i,  16. 

28  Ad  AtL,  xiii,  39. 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  399 

Cotta,  who,  playing  well  the  part  of  a  New  Academician,   Cotta  speaks 
vigorously  assailed  the  doctrines  of  others  without  ad-    Aor  ,ew 

&  *  Academy, 

vancing  any  positive  views  of  his  own,  while  the  tenets   Balbus 
of  the  Stoics  were   set  forth  with  great  clearness  and   Velleiusfor 
power  by  Balbus,  the  pupil  of  Panaetius,  and  those  of  Epicureans, 
the  Epicureans  by  Velleius,  who  took  more  pains  to  ridi- 
cule  the   speculations   of   the   different   schools   than   to 
defend  those  of  the  sect  to  which  he  belonged.     And  so 
the  first  book  opens  with  a  discourse  from  Velleius  who, 
in  a  superior  and  contemptuous  tone,  makes  a  survey  of 
doctrines  running  from  Thales  to  Socrates,  Plato,  Antis- 
thenes,  Aristotle,  and  Chrysippus.     As  a  fling  at  Plato's 
Timaeus  and  the  Stoics  he  says: 

Do  not  attend  to  these  idle  and  imaginary  tales;  nor  to  the  A  fling  at 
operator  and  builder  of  the  World,  the  God  of  Plato's  Timaeus;  Plato  a°d 
nor  the  old  Prophetic  dame,  the  Upovota  of  the  Stoics,  which  the 
Latins  call  Providence ;  nor  to  that  round,  that  burning,  revolving 
deity,  the  World,  endowed  with  sense  and  understanding;  the 
prodigies  and  wonders,  not  of  inquisitive  philosophers,  but  of 
dreamers!  For  with  what  eyes  of  the  mind  was  your  Plato  able 
to  see  that  workhouse  of  such  stupendous  toil,  in  which  he  makes 
the  world  to  be  modelled  and  built  by  God?  What  materials, 
what  tools,  what  bars,  what  machines,  what  servants,  were  em- 
ployed in  so  vast  a  work?  How  could  the  air,  fire,  water,  and 
earth  pay  obedience  and  submit  to  the  will  of  the  architect?29 

After  Velleius  had  then  praised  Epicurus  because,  he 
said,  that  he  alone  had  placed  the  existence  of  the  gods 
upon  a  firm  and  reasonable  basis,  Cotta  came  forward  cotta's 
and  overthrew  his  whole  argument  by  demonstrating  first,  resP°nse- 
that  the  reasons  given  by  Epicurus  for  the  existence  of 
the  gods  were  entirely  inadequate;  secondly,  admitting 
their  existence,  nothing  could  be  less  seemly  than  the 
form  and  qualities  assigned  them;  and  thirdly,  granting 

29  De  Nat.  Dear.,  i,  8. 


4QO 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Essence  of 
Stoic  creed. 


God  is  the 
Universe, 
the  Universe 
is  God. 


such  form  and  qualities,  nothing  could  be  more  grotesque 
than  the  assumption  that  mankind  should  feel  grateful 
to  beings  from  whom  nothing  can  be  hoped  in  the  way 
of  sympathy  or  support. 

After  the  Academician  Cotta,  whose  "school  is  at  lib- 
erty to  argue  on  which  side  you  please,"  had  thus  disposed 
of  the  half-jesting  Epicurean,  Balbus  came  forward  to 
propound  the  essence  of  the  Stoic  creed  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  universe  and  the  Deity  as  its  central  and  directing 
force. 

Our  sect  [he  said]  divide  the  whole  question  concerning  the 
immortal  gods  into  four  parts.  First,  they  prove  that  there  are 
gods;  secondly,  of  what  character  and  nature  they  are;  thirdly, 
that  the  universe  is  governed  by  them;  and  lastly,  that  they 
exercise  a  superintendence  over  human  affairs.30 

The  essence  of  it  all  was  embodied  in  the  idea  that 
God  is  the  Universe  and  the  Universe  is  God,  who  is  the 
source  of  a  system  of  permanent,  uniform,  and  universal 
law  of  which  he  is  the  author,  interpreter,  and  enforcer; 
a  law  known  as  the  law  of  nature.31  The  inevitable 
corollary  was  that  as  such  a  system  could  only  flow  from 
a  single  source  there  could  be  but  a  single  supreme  God 
or  Deity.     To  employ  the  words  of  Balbus: 

But  as  the  previous  idea  which  we  have  of  the  Deity  compre- 
hends two  things  —  first  of  all,  that  he  is  an  animated  being; 
secondly,  that  there  is  nothing  in  all  nature  superior  to  him  —  I 
do  not  see  what  can  be  done  more  consistent  with  this  idea  and 
preconception  than  to  attribute  a  mind  and  divinity  to  the  world, 

the  most  excellent  of  all  beings It  follows,  then,  that  the 

world  has  life,  sense,  reason,  and  understanding  and  is  conse- 
quently a  Deity.32 

30  De  Nat.  Deor.,  H,  I. 

31  Cf.  Zeller,  Stoics,  Epicureans,  and  Skeptics,  pp.  143,  149;  Arnold, 
Roman  Stoicism,  pp.  218  sqq. 

32  De  Nat,  Deor.,  ii,  17. 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  401 

Having  thus  established  the  existence  of  one  supreme    Onesu- 
God  as  the  sole  and  only  source  of  the  natural  law,  the   Preme       » 

*  '  source  or 

Stoic  logicians  were  compelled  to  degrade  in  some  way  natural  law. 
the  swarm  of  little  gods  who  were  still  spoken  of  as  such. 
That  result  was  easily  accomplished  by  simply  treating 
the  lesser  gods  as  personifications  either  of  certain  phys- 
ical forces  in  nature,  or  as  personifications  of  certain 
moral  or  intellectual  qualities  in  man.  In  stating  that 
part  of  the  case  Balbus  says: 

There  is  another  reason,  too,  and  that  founded  on  natural 
philosophy,  which  has  greatly  contributed  to  the  number  of  Deities, 
namely,  the  custom  of  representing  in  human  form  a  crowd  of 
gods  who  have  supplied  the  poets  with  fables  and  mankind  with 

all  sorts  of  superstition By  Saturn  they  mean  that  which 

comprehends  the  course  and  revolution  of  times  and  seasons 

Our  Augurs  also  mean  the  same,  when,  for  the  "thundering  and 
lightening  heaven"  they  say  the  "thundering  and  lightening 
Jove." 33 

Professor  Sihler  states  the  matter  with  reasonable 
clearness  when  he  says: 

The  Stoics,  while  utterly  abandoning  the  anthropomorphism 
of  Homer  and  Hesiod  and  popular  religion,  still  in  a  certain  way 
strove  to  maintain  or  conserve  the  chief  figures  of  that  Hellenic 
Olympus.  They  did  this,  however,  in  a  kind  of  scientific  way, 
recognizing  them  as  Physical  Forces.  Here  they  surpassed  them-  The  little 
selves  in  etymological  speculation.  There  is  one  God  but  there  .gods  as  Phys_ 
are  also  many  concrete  forces  of  nature,  which  mankind  has 
found  to  be  beneficent.  In  this  spirit  Zeno  interpreted  Hesiod's 
Theogony.  Kronos  is  Time,  in  Latin,  because  "filled  with 
years."  34 

In  arguing  for  design  in  the  creation  of  the  world  as 
opposed  to  the  Epicurean  assumption  of  a  fortuitous 
concourse  of  atoms,  the  Stoic  says: 

33  De  Nat.  Deor.,  ii,  24,  25.  34  Sihler,  p.  388. 


402 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Design 
as  against 
fortuitous 
concourse 
of  atoms. 


Cotta's  re- 
joinder in 
third  book, 
parts  of 
which 
are  lost. 


De  Divina- 
tione,  a  trea- 
tise on  the 
mantic  art 


Can  anyone  in  his  senses  imagine  that  this  disposition  of  the 
stars,  and  this  heaven,  so  beautifully  adorned,  could  ever  have 
been  formed  by  a  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms?  Or  what 
other  nature,  being  destitute  of  intellect  and  reason,  could  pos- 
sibly have  produced  these  effects,  which  not  only  required  reason 
to  bring  them  about,  but  the  very  character  of  which  could  not 
be  understood  and  appreciated  without  the  most  strenuous 
exertions  of  well-directed  reason?35 

The  pontifex  maximus,  Cotta,  the  host  on  this  occa- 
sion, in  his  rejoinder  to  Balbus,  embodied  in  the  third 
book,  did  not  attempt  to  demolish  all  that  he  had  said; 
he  simply  contended,  according  to  the  skeptical  fashion 
of  his  school,  that  the  reasons  given  for  his  positions 
were  not  such  as  were  calculated  to  produce  conviction. 
That  part  of  the  rejoinder  directed  against  the  assump- 
tion of  a  Divine  Providence  is  lost,  as  is  also  the  criticism 
upon  the  evidence  for  the  visible  appearance  of  the  gods 
on  earth.  The  most  notable  part  of  the  criticism  per- 
haps is  that  embodied  in  the  suggestion  that,  according 
to  Stoic  interpretation  of  the  universe,  Olympus  is 
robbed  of  all  divinity,  as  reason  cannot  be  considered 
divine  because  men  often  use  it  for  the  advancement  of 
evil.36 

As  a  sequel  to  the  De  Natura  Deorum  we  have  the 
treatise  on  the  mantic  art,   or  divination    (De  Divina-  \ 
tione),  the  first  book  of  which  was  completed  before,   j 
and  the  second  after  the  ides  of  March: 

Now  these  topics  I  have  often  discussed  [says  the  author], 
and  I  did  so  lately  with  more  than  usual  minuteness,  when 
I    was   with   my   brother    Quintus,    in    my   villa    at   Tusculum. 

35  De  Nat.  Deor.,  II,  44. 

30  In  the  dexterous  and  subtle  logic  of  Cotta,  we  may  unquestionably 
trace  the  master-spirit  of  Carneades  as  represented  in  the  writings  of  his    ! 
disciple  Cleitomachus   (Kiihner,  p.  98). — Cf.  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek 
and  Roman  Biography  and  Mythology,  vol.  i,  p.  739. 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  403 

For  when,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  walking  exercise,  we  had 
come  into  the  Lyceum  (for  that  is  the  name  of  the  upper  Gym- 
nasium), "I  read,"  said  he,  "a  little  while  ago  your  third  book 
on  the  Nature  of  the  Gods;  in  which,  although  the  arguments  of 
Cotta  have  not  wholly  changed  my  previous  opinions,  they  have 
undoubtedly  a  good  deal  shaken  them."  37 

In  what  follows  we  have  a  detailed  exposition  of  the 
conflicting  opinions  of  the  Stoics  and  the  Academicians 
as  to  the  reality  of  the  science  of  divination,  and  the 
degree  of  confidence  which  should  be  reposed  in  its  pro- 
fessors, Quintus  Cicero,  introduced  for  the  first  time  in 
a  dialogue  of  Marcus  since  52  B.C.,  defending  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Porch  against  those  of  the  Academy.  In 
the  first  book,  chiefly  devoted  to  a  statement  of  the  Stoic 
tenets,  ultimately  derived  no  doubt  from  Chrysippus  him- 
self,38 the  art  of  divination,  expounding  the  signs  given 
by  God  to  men,  is  presented  as  something  in  close  alliance 
with  the  Stoic  belief  in  Providence  (irpovota) .  We  are 
told  that  — 


....  The  Stoics  attempt  to  prove  the  reality  of  divination  in   Stoic  proof 

this  way:     If  there  are  gods,  and  they  do  not  intimate   future  of  the  reality 
.  .  ,         ,  ,  .  .  of  divination. 

events  to  men,  they  either  do  not  love  men,  or  they  are  ignorant 

of  the  future;  or  else  they  conceive  that  knowledge  of  the  future 

can  be  of  no  service  to  men ;  or  they  conceive  that  it  does  not 

become  their  majesty  to  condescend  to  intimate  beforehand  what 

must  be  hereafter;  or  lastly,  we  must  say  that  even   the  gods 

themselves  cannot  tell  how  to  forewarn  us  of  them But 

there  are  gods,  so  therefore  they  do  give  such  intimations;  and  if 

they  do  give  such  intimations,  they  must  have  given  us  the  means 

of  understanding  them,  or  else  they  would  give  their  information 

to  no  purpose.     And  if  they  do  give  us  such  means,  divination 

must  needs"  exist ;  therefore  divination  does  exist.39 

37  De  Div.,  i,  5. 

88  Von  Arnim,  Sto.  Fragm.,  Pref.,  p.  xxx,  and  vol.  ii.  p.  242. 

39  De  Div.,  i,  38. 


404  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

A  profound  conviction  of  the  reality  of  the  existence 
of  manticism  was  deeply  embedded  in  the  traditions  and 
feelings  of  Roman  life,  public  and  private.  When  the 
skeptic  Caesar  entered  the  Curia  of  Pompey,  in  the  teeth 
of  unpropitious  divination,  when  Crassus  in  the  same 
spirit  entered  Mesopotamia,  each  was  fairly  warned  as 
to  the  inevitable  outcome  of  such  impiety. 

After  enumerating,  at  the  opening  of  the  second  book, 
many  of  his  completed  non-professional  works,  Cicero 
says: 

I  am  girding  myself  up  to  what  remains,  with  the  desire  (if  I 
am  not  hindered  by  weightier  business)  of  leaving  no  philosophical 
topic  otherwise  than  fully  explained  and  illustrated  in  the  Latin 
language. 

Arguments  He  then  proceeds  to  present  the  arguments  of  Car- 

against-163  *'  neades,   the  head  of  the   skeptical  Academy,   who  con- 

manticism.      tended   that   manticism    was    a    delusion,    and   that   the  J 

warnings  it  pretends  to  convey,  if  real,  would  be  rather 

a  curse  than  a  blessing  to  mankind.     In  enforcing  that 

view  he  says: 

References  Do  you  think  that  it  would  have  been  any  advantage  to  Marcus 

to  Crassus.  Crassus,  when  he  was  flourishing  with  the  amplest  riches  and 
gifts  of  fortune,  to  have  foreknown  that  he  should  behold  his  son 
Publius  slain,  his  forces  defeated,  and  lose  his  own  life  beyond 
the  Euphrates  with   ignominy  and  disgrace?     Or  do  you  think 

Pompey.  that  Pompey  would  have  experienced  much  satisfaction  in  being 

thrice  made  consul,  and  having  attained  the  summit  of  glory  by 
his  heroic  actions,  if  he  could  have  foreseen  that  he  should  be 
assassinated  in  the  deserts  of  Egypt  after  the  defeat  of  his  army, 
and  that  after  his  death  those  disasters  should  happen  which  we 

Caesar.  cannot  mention  without  tears?     What  do  you  think  of  Caesar? 

Would  it  have  been  only  pleasure  to  Caesar  to  have  anticipated 
by  divination  that  one  day,  in  the  midst  of  the  throngs  of  senators 
whom  he  himself  had  elected,  in  the  Temple  of  Victory  built  by 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  405 

Pompey,  and  before  that  general's  statue,  and  before  the  eyes  of 
so  many  of  his  own  centurions,  he  should  be  slain  by  the  noblest 
citizens,  some  of  whom  were  indebted  to  him  for  their  dignities 
—  aye,  slain  under  such  circumstances  that  not  one  of  his  friends, 
or  even  of  his  servants,  would  venture  to  approach  him?  Could 
he  have  foreseen  all  this,  in  what  wretchedness  would  he  have 
passed  his  life  ?  40 

Let  us  reject,  therefore,  this  divination  of  dreams,  as  well  as 
all  other  kinds.     For  to  speak  truly,  that  superstition  has  extended    An 

itself  through  all  nations,  and  has  oppressed  the  intellectual  ener-   °PPressive 

•  .  superstition, 

gies  of  almost  all  men,  and  has  betrayed  them  into  endless  imbe- 
cilities: as  I  argued  in  my  treatise  on  the  Nature  of  the  Gods, 
and  as  I  have  especially  labored  to  prove  in  this  dialogue  on 
Divination.  For  I  thought  that  I  should  be  doing  an  immense 
benefit  both  to  myself  and  to  my  countrymen  if  I  could  entirely 
eradicate  all  those  superstitious  errors.41 

In  the  fragment  of  a  treatise  on  Fate  or  Destiny  (De  De Fato,  last 
Fato),  of  which  the  opening  and  closing  portions  have   on  specula" 
been  lost,  we  have  the  last  of  the  series  of  dissertations   tive  theology, 
on  speculative  theology,  beginning  with  the  De  Natura 
Deorum  and  continued  in  the  De  Divinatione.    This  muti- 
lated and  confused  survival,  whose  style  is  careless  and 
unfinished,  represents  what  is  supposed  to  have  been  a 
critical  review  of  the  tenets  of  the  leading  philosophic 
sects  on  the  unsolvable  problems  involved  in  the  dogmas 
of   predestination   and    free   will.      Evidently   the   most 
prominent  place  was  assigned  to  the  Stoics  who  claimed 
\  that  Fate,  or  Destiny,  is  the  great  ruling  power  of  the 
I  universe,  the  Ao'yos,42  the  divine  essence   from  which  all  Fate  the 
'  impulses  are  drawn,  the  Academics  claiming,  on  the  other   d;^'  *  e 
;  hand,  that  the  movements  of  the  mind  are  voluntary,  or   essence. 
\  at  least  not  necessarily  subject  to  external  control. 

40  De  Div.,  ii,  9. 

41  Ibid.,  ii,  72. 

42  Fate  is  in  fact  but  another  name  for  the  Logos  or  World-reason. — 
i   Arnold,  p.  202. 


406 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


"Therea-  According  to  Chrysippus,  "Fate  is  the  reason  of  the 

son  oft  e        universe,"  or  uthe  rational  principle  in  accordance  with 

universe.  '  v  r 

which  current  events  have  happened,  and  in  accordance 
with  which  they  are  taking  place,  and  further  events  will 
take  place."43  The  first  or  positive  part  of  the  treatise 
has  been  lost;  it  is  the  negative  portion  that  has  been 
preserved  —  the  Academic  analysis  and  refutation  of  the 
Stoic  position.44  The  dialogue  occurred  at  Cicero's 
Puteolanum,  where  he  spent  the  months  of  April  and 
May  after  Caesar's  death,  the  speakers  being  Cicero 
himself  and  Hirtius,  consul  elect,  who  was  to  begin  his 
consulate  at  Rome  on  January  i,  43  B.C.  While  Cicero 
evidently  regarded  Fate  or  Destiny  as  the  dictum  of 
Destiny  and  Providence,  the  decree  of  God,  he  certainly  assumed  at 
inter-  tne   same   time   that  it  is   essentially   conditional,   going 

dependent.       hand  in  hand  with  free  will,  since  free  will  is  one  condi- 
tion of  Fate  itself.45    To  use  his  own  words: 

Those,  therefore,  who  thus  introduce  fate,  and  join  neces- 
sity with  it,  rush  wildly  into  this  absurd  consequence,  namely, 
the  destruction  of  free  will.  But  those  who  admit  antecedent 
causes  without  supposing  them  principal,  have  no  such  error  to 
fear.  In  fact,  nothing  is  more  natural,  according  to  these  philoso- 
phers, than  the  manner  in  which  the  sentiments  are  produced  by 

pre-existent  causes Thus  we  may  understand  how  both 

these  contending  disputants,  when  they  have  fairly  explained  their 
systems,  arrive  at  the  same  essential  result,  and  only  differ  in 
terms. 

And  since  the  main  points  are  admitted  by  both  sides,  we  may 
affirm  with  confidence  that  when  certain  causes  precede  certain 
effects  we  cannot  hinder  these  effects  from  happening.  In  other 
cases,  on  the  contrary,  though  certain  causes  preexist,  we  have 
the  moulding  of  their  effects  in  our  own  power.     Such   is  the 

43  Diog.  L.,  vii,  149. 

44  Cf.  Sihler,  p.  404. 

45  In  that  way  he  agreed  with  the  Fathers  of  the  first  three  centuries,  as 
explained  by  Leibnitz  and  Erasmus. 


TREATISES  ON  PHILOSOPHY  AND  THEOLOGY  407 

distinction  recognized  by  both  sides;  but  some  imagine  that  those 
things  whose  causes  so  precede  as  to  deprive  us  of  the  power  of 
moulding  the  effect,  are  submitted  to  the  empire  of  fate,  but  that 
those  which  depend  on  ourselves  are  free  from  it.46 

46  De  Fato,  18,  19.  Niebuhr  (Vortrage  iiber  romische  Geschichte,  Berlin, 
1848,  vol.  iii,  p.  85)  says:  "In  this  summer  Cicero  developed  the  greatest 
intellectual  activity.  He  began  the  books  De  Officiis,  he  wrote  De  Divina- 
tione,  De  Fato,  Topica,  De  Gloria,  and  an  enormous  number  of  letters, 
many  of  which  are  not  preserved.  I  know  of  no  man  who  was  so  intensively 
active  as  was  Cicero  at  this  time:  an  ordinary  being  would  be  stupefied 
amid  such  circumstances,  and  think  of  the  present  only  with  consternation. 
Cicero  knew  everything  that  transpired,  but  did  not  at  all  permit  himself 
to  be  overwhelmed  by  what  he  could  not  prevent,  and  he  turned  all  his 
thoughts  towards  the  domain  of  thought.  That  in  this  occupation  he  found 
distraction  from  his  grief  demonstrates  the  greatness  of  his  soul." 


CHAPTER  XIV 


How  news 
was  circulat- 
ed at  Rome. 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS 

No  matter  with  how  much  zest  Cicero  may  have  en- 
joyed an  excursion  to  one  of  his  many  country  seats,  he 
loved  more  the  excitements  of  the  town,  to  which  he  was 
ever  looking  for  news  of  current  events.  In  a  letter  written 
to  Caelius  Rufus,  then  curule  aedile,  in  June,  50  B.C.,  he 
says: 

"The  city,  the         The  city,  the  city,  my  dear  Rufus  —  stick  to  that  and  live  in 

ci  y»  my    e        -ts   ijmeijghtj      Residence   elsewhere  —  as    I   made   up   my   mind 

to  that."  in  early  life  —  is  mere  eclipse  and  obscurity  to  those  whose  energy 

is  capable  of  shining  at  Rome.1 

In  order  to   satisfy  the  craving  for  news,   upon  the 
part  of  those  without  as  well  as  of  those  within  the  city, 
certain  persons  made  a  living  at  Rome  by  collecting  the 
most  important  and  interesting  information,  public  and 
private,  which  they  circulated  every  few  days  in  a  smallffl 
handbook  or  gazette,  Commentarius  rerum  urbanarum, 
copied  many  times  by  slaves,  and  distributed  among  those    J 
rich  enough  to  subscribe  for  it.     In  order  to  popularize    \ 
that  process,   Caesar,   during  his  first  consulship,  seems    I 
to  have  passed  a  decree  commanding  one  of  the  magis-   1 
trates  to  cause  a  resume  of  all  of  the  most  important 
news  to  be  posted  on  white-washed  walls  in  different  parts 
of  the  city,  with  the  further  direction  that  so  soon  as  ij 
became  stale  the  walls  should  be  white-washed  again  in 
order  that  a  fresh  budget  might  appear.2 

1  Ad  Fam.,  ii,  12. 

2  Suet.,  Caes.,  20;  Daremberg  and  Saglio,  D.A.,  i,  50,  51;  Huebner, 
Senatus  Populique  Romani  Actis,  Leipzig,   i860;   Ferrero,   Greatness  ant 
Decline  of  Rome,  vol.  i,  p.  287. 

408 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  409 

In  the  absence  of  newspapers  and  knowledge  of  the   Ancient 
art  of  printing3  the  ancients,  as  a  means  of  publicity,    £  means  of 
employed  placards.  publicity. 

When  we  traverse  the  ruins  of  a  Roman  town,  we  encounter 
them  at  every  step.  There  are  those  made  to  last,  and,  with  this 
intention,  graven  on  brass,  on  marble,  on  stone.  These  are  the 
enactments  of  authority,  the  laws  of  the  emperors,  the  decrees  of 
the  Senate,  and  the  decurions,  or,  even  in  private  life,  the  contracts 
guaranteeing  the  right  of  possession,  and  the  minutes  of  religious 
corporations  desirous  of  recording  the  regular  performance  of 
their  sacred  functions.  For  things  of  minor  note  people  had  not 
recourse  to  materials  of  such  costliness.  On  a  board,  or  simply 
on  a  wall  whitened  with  chalk,  they  wrote  in  black  or  red  what 
they  wished  to  advertise:  the  letting  of  a  suite  of  rooms  "at  the 
kalends  of  July  or  the  ides  of  August,"  the  announcement  of  a 
show,  "which  will  take  place,  weather  permitting  or  without  fail," 
and  more  often  still,  an  election  address 

Among  the  Romans  the  placard  never  grew  into  a  newspaper, 
but  it  continued  to  be  displayed  on  the  walls  until  the  end  of  the 
Empire,  and  never  ceased  to  be  their  principal  medium  of  pub- 
licity  Sainte  Beuve  was  quite  right  in  saying:    "The  true 

Moniteur  of  the  Romans  must  be  sought  in  the  innumerable  pages 
of  marble  and  bronze  on  which  they  graved  their  laws  and  their 
victories."  4 

Caesar,  who  was  installed  as  consul  in  59  B.C.,  inaugu- 
rated another  innovation  when  he  arranged  that  reports 
of  the  sittings  of  the  Senate  should  be  made  in  a  more 
regular  manner,  and  for  public  distribution.     "One  of  his  Caesar  gave 
first  acts,"  says  Suetonius,  "was  to  decree  that  the  reports  pubIlC1^  t0 

'  '  r  proceedings 

of  the  sittings  of  the  Senate,   as  well  as  those   of  the   of  the  Senate. 

3  Certainly  they  came  very  near  to  the  discovery  of  that  art  when  they 
invented  iron  stamps,  in  relief  or  hollowed  out,  with  which  they  printed 
upon  thousands  of  vases,  lamps,  and  tiles  the  name  of  the  maker,  the  place 
where  made,  with  mention  of  the  consuls  in  office,  in  order  to  fix  the  date  of 
production. 

4  Bossier,  Tacitus  and  Other  Roman  Studies,  pp.  198-223,  Hutchinson's 
translation. 


410  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

people,  should  be  daily  written  out  and  published" :  Insti- 
tuit  ut  tarn  senatus  quam  populi  diurna  confierent  et 
public arentur. 

One  of  the  strong  points  of  the  Senate  had  been  the 
secrecy  of  its  proceedings;  nothing  of  what  actually  trans- 
pired within  it  could  be  known,  outside  of  that  which  it 
found  convenient  to  disclose.  Eager  to  do  as  much  harm 
as  possible  to  the  aristocratic  party,  under  the  pretext  of 
serving  the  democracy,  Caesar  resorted  to  this  expedient 
in  the  belief  that  the  Senate  would  be  less  esteemed  the 
better  it  was  known.  It  seems  to  be  clear  that  reports 
of  the  Senate  were  conveyed  to  the  people  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  Great  Annals  which  had  grown  out  of  the 
practice  of  placing  each  year  on  the  wall  of  the  Regia, 
The  Great  the  residence  of  the  pontifex  maximus,  a  whitened 
nna  s  as  a     boarcj   called  album,  on  which  were  inscribed,  below  the 

source  or  Ko-  ' 

man  history,  names  of  the  consuls  and  magistrates,  such  notable  polit- 
ical or  military  events  as  had  happened  at  Rome  or  in 
the  provinces.  To  the  white  tablet  of  the  pontifex  maxi- 
mus the  peasants  who  formed  part  of  the  tribes  of  the 
Campagna,  many  of  whom  had  children  in  the  army, 
made  their  first  visit,  no  doubt,  whenever  market  day  or 
other  occasion  drew  them  to  the  city  from  the  country. 
At  the  end  of  the  year  the  supreme  pontiff's  tablet  was 
removed  and  stored  in  the  archives.  When  these  boards, 
laden  with  so  many  memorials  of  the  past,  were  finally 
brought  together  and  published  under  the  title  of  Annales 
Maximi,  we  have  the  beginnings  of  Roman  history.5  In 
some  such  way  the  reports  of  the  Senate  must  have  been 
exhibited  in  the  Forum,  or  in  some  other  much  frequented 
spot  where  the  people  could  gather  to  read  the  proceed- 

5  As  to  the  Annales  Maximi,  see  Dyer,  A  History  of  the  City  of  Rome, 
pp.  xvii-xxviii. 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  411 

ings  of  an  aristocratic  assembly  which  had  taken  place 
immemorially  in  secrecy. 

At  a  very  early  day,  into  these  Forum  placards,  de- 
signed to  exhibit  only  the  reports  of  the  meetings  of  the 
Senate  and  people,  were  interpolated  what  Caelius  treated 
as  ineptitudes  (ineptiae)  and  what  we  now  call  miscel- 
laneous news  (faits  divers).  Then,  after  the  Empire  . 
had  practically  abolished  the  assemblies  of  the  people, 
and  reduced  the  influence  of  the  Senate  to  a  shadow,  "the 
essential  part  of  the  Acta  senatus  et  populi,  that  which  at 
first  had  been  their  reason  for  existence,  coming  to  be 
diminished  more  and  more,  the  news  of  Rome,  or,  if  you 
will,  the  miscellaneous  news,  little  by  little  assumed  the 
upper  hand,  and  that  which  was  accessory  ended  by  be- 
coming the  principal   feature The  ancient  Acta 

senatus  et  populi,  which  Caesar  had  created,  became  in- 
discernible.    And  so,   apparently,  the  need  was  experi-  Actadiuma 
enced  of  modifying  the  name  they  bore.    They  are  usually   ~lLL 
called  Acta  diurna  populi  Romani.    This  title  we  have  a 
right  to  translate  by  that  of  the  Roman  Journal."6 

But  all  such  news,  received  through  such  semi-official 
sources,  was  more  or  less  tame  and  perfunctory,  confined 
as  it  was  in  the  main  to  reports  of  public  meetings,  to  a 
short  summary  of  cases  tried  in  the  Forum,  or  the  ac- 
counts of  public  ceremonies  and  atmospheric  phenomena 
or  prodigies.  For  the  benefit  of  those  who  were  required 
to  live  during  long  periods  of  time  away  from  Rome, 
such  as  praetors  and  pro-consuls  in  the  provinces,  the 
deficiencies  of  the  Acta  diurna  were  supplied  by  "news-  The 
letters"  written  by  paid  correspondents,  a  class  well  de-  news_letter- 

e  Bossier,  Tacitus  and  Other  Roman  Studies,  pp.  219-221,  who  says: 
"The  most  complete  collection  of  what  remains  to  us  of  the  Roman  Journal 
is  to  be  found  in  M.  Hiibner's  monograph  entitled  De  senatus  populique 
romani  actis,  Leipzig,  i860." 


412 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Personal 
letters  from 
trusted 
friends. 


Epistolary 
history  of  the 
last  years 
of  Roman 
Republic. 


scribed  in  a  letter  written  by  Caelius  Rufus  to  Cicero, 
while  on  his  way  to  his  province  of  Cilicia,  in  which  the 
writer  says: 

As  I  promised  you  on  the  eve  of  your  departure  to  write  a  full 
and  careful  account  of  all  that  went  on  in  the  city,  I  have  taken 
pains  to  secure  a  man  to  describe  everything  so  fully  that  I  fear 
his  industry  in  this  respect  may  appear  to  you  somewhat  overdone. 
....  It  would  have  required  considerable  leisure  not  only  to 
copy  out  all  these  details,  but  even  to  take  notice  of  them ;  for  the 
packet  contains  all  the  decrees  of  the  Senate,  edicts,  gossip,  and 
reports.  If  this  specimen  does  not  meet  your  wishes,  let  me  know, 
that  I  may  not  spend  money  only  to  bore  you.7 

And  still,  over  and  above  all  such  news  as  could  be 
derived  from  all  such  sources,  there  was  a  need  upon  the 
part  of  leaders  who  could  not  be  present  in  the  midst  of 
the  whirl  of  Rome,  for  a  more  personal  and  intimate 
kind  of  information  to  be  derived  only  from  trusted  and 
influential  friends  who  could  listen  to  private  conversa- 
tions behind  the  scenes  in  high  places,  and  thus  learn  of 
the  secret  agreements,  the  discords,  the  intrigues,  the 
political  combinations  which  were  the  mainsprings  of 
current  events. 

It  was  that  kind  of  news  Cicero  craved  when  he  settled 
down  at  Puteoli,  Formiae,  or  Arpinum;  and  in  order  to 
obtain  it,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  exchange  letters 
constantly  with  such  friends  as  Atticus,  Curio,  and  Caelius 
Rufus,  who  were  expected  to  supply  it.  In  that  way  was 
written  a  fragmentary  yet  vivid  history  of  the  last  years 
of  the  Roman  Republic,  which,  coming  as  it  does  from 

7  Ad  Tarn.,  viii,  i.  See  also  Ad  Fam.,  viii,  i;  viii,  2;  viii,  n.  In  the 
first  letter  cited  Caelius  says:  "As  to  Caesar,  there  are  frequent  and  rather 
ugly  reports — at  any  rate,  people  keep  arriving  with  mysterious  whispers; 
one  says  that  he  has  lost  his  cavalry,  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  without  doubt 
an  invention;  another  says  that  the  seventh  legion  has  had  a  drubbing,  that 
he  himself  is  besieged  among  the  Bellovaci,  and  cut  off  from  the  main 
army." 


year. 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  413 

such  a  pen  as  Cicero's,  is  beyond  all  price.  His  contem- 
porary Cornelius  Nepos  was  certainly  right  when  he  said 
that  he  who  reads  those  letters  will  not  be  tempted  to 
seek  the  history  of  those  dramatic  times  elsewhere.  Car- 
dinal Newman  has  said  somewhere: 

It  has  ever  been  a  hobby  of  mine,  though  perhaps  it  is  a  truism, 

not  a  hobby,  that  the  true  life  of  a  man  is  in  his  letters 

Biographers  vanish,  they  assign  motives,  they  conjecture  feelings, 
they  interpret  Lord  Burleigh's  nods,  but  contemporary  letters  are 
facts. 

Cicero's  correspondence,  as  it  has  been  handed  down  Cicero's  cor- 
to  us,  does  not  begin  until  his  thirty-ninth  year;  and,  so  J^^JyJ 
strictly  is  it  confined  to  contemporary  events  that  it  sheds  thirty-ninth 
but  little  light  upon  the  past.  At  first  it  is  desultory; 
there  are  but  eleven  letters  between  68  B.C.  and  65  B.C. 
Before  the  year  first  named  he  had  already  been  quaestor 
(75  B.C.),  and  aedile  (69  B.C.),  and  was  then  on  the 
eve  of  his  election  to  the  praetorship  in  the  next  year 
(67  B.C.).  He  was  already  the  leader  of  the  Roman 
bar,  having  delivered  his  great  oration  against  Verres 
two  years  before.  Eleven  years  had  passed  by  since  the  First  letter  to 
cementing  anew  of  his  relations  with  Atticus  at  Athens 
in  79  B.C. ;  and  to  this  friend,  whom  he  had  known  from 
his  boyhood,  he  says  in  the  first  letter: 

I  am  glad  you  like  your  purchase  in  Epirus.  What  I  com- 
missioned you  to  get  for  me,  and  anything  you  see  suitable  to  my 
Tuscan  villa,  I  should  be  glad  if  you  will,  as  you  say  in  your 
letter,  procure  for  me,  only  do  not  put  yourself  to  any  incon- 
venience. The  truth  is,  there  is  no  other  place  that  gives  me 
complete  rest  after  all  my  worries  and  hard  work.8 

Thus  we  begin  with  the  successful  advocate's  letters, 
just   after   he   had   acquired   the   first  of  his   numerous 

8  Ad  Att.,  i,  5. 


Atticus  then 
at  Athens. 


414 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


No  letters  for 
the  critical 
years  64  and 
63  B.  c. 


Correspond- 
ence contin- 
uous from 
62  to  43  b.  c. 


A  splendid 
estimate. 


country  villas  which  he  proudly  called  the  gems  of 
Italy. 

There  are  no  letters  either  for  the  year  64  B.C.,  in 
which  he  made  his  canvass  for  the  consulship,  nor  for 
the  year  63  B.C.,  the  year  of  the  consulship  itself.  We 
have  therefore  no  strictly  contemporaneous  accounts 
from  him  of  the  stirring  events  involved  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  Catilinian  conspiracy,  or  of  the  execution  of 
its  leaders,  a  transaction  which  so  deeply  affected  his 
after  life.  In  Cicero's  time  letters  were  written  either 
on  tablets  of  ivory  or  wood  covered  with  wax,  in  which 
the  letters  were  cut  in  uncial  characters  by  the  stilus,  the 
projecting  rim  of  the  tablets  protecting  them  from  de- 
facement; or  they  were  written  on  parchment  or  paper 
with  a  reed  pen  and  ink.  The  longer  letters  of  Cicero 
were  probably  written  in  that  manner.9 

Apart  from  the  first  eleven  letters,  the  correspondence 
really  begins  with  the  return  of  Pompey  from  the  East 
in  62  B.C.  and  ends  with  the  rise  of  Octavian  and  the 
formation  in  43  B.C.  of  the  Second  Triumvirate,  whose 
terrible  death-toll  included  the  life  of  Cicero  himself. 
Within  that  period  we  have  in  the  correspondence  in 
question  the  most  voluminous  record  that  has  descended 
from  antiquity  of  the  acts,  the  thoughts,  the  feelings  of 
one  of  the  most  gifted  men  who  ever  lived,  while  passing 
through  the  momentous  events  incident  to  a  turning-point 
in  the  world's  history.     A  prince  among  critics  has  said: 

Notwithstanding  the  manifold  attractions  offered  by  the  works 
of  Cicero,  we  believe  that  the  man  of  taste,  the  historian,  the 
antiquary,  and  the  student  of  human  nature,  would  willingly 
resign  them  all  rather  than  be  deprived  of  the  Epistles.  Greece 
can  furnish  us  with  more  profound  philosophers,  and  with  superior 
oratory,  but   the  ancient  world  has  left  us  nothing  that  could 

9  See  the  reference  to  charta  in  Ad  Fam.,  vii,  18,  and  also  in  Ad  Att.,  iv,  4. 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  415 

supply  the  place  of  these  letters.  Whether  we  regard  them  as 
mere  specimens  of  style,  at  one  time  reflecting  the  conversational 
tone  of  familiar  everyday  life  in  its  most  graceful  form,  at  an- 
other sparkling  with  wit,  at  another  claiming  applause  as  works 
of  art  belonging  to  the  highest  class,  at  another  couched  in  all  the 
stiff  courtesy  of  diplomatic  reserve ;  or  whether  we  consider  the 
ample  materials,  derived  from  the  purest  and  most  inaccessible 
sources,  which  they  supply  for  a  history  of  the  Roman  constitution 
during  its  last  struggles,  affording  a  deep  insight  into  the  personal 
dispositions  and  motives  of  the  chief  leaders;  or,  finally,  seek  and 
find  in  them  a  complete  key  to  the  character  of  Cicero  himself, 
unlocking  as  they  do  the  most  hidden  secrets  of  his  thoughts, 
revealing  the  whole  man  in  all  his  greatness  and  all  his  meanness, 
their  value  is  altogether  inestimable.10 

The  entire  correspondence,   extending  over  a  period 
of  twenty-six   years   and   embracing  nearly   a   thousand 
letters,  is  generally  arranged  in  four  groups.     The  first  Letters  ar- 
is  entitled  either  Epistolarum  ad  Familiares,  or,  Episto-   *ange  ln 

»  »        '       ™  four  groups. 

larum  ad  Diversos  Libri  XVI;  the  second,  Epistolarum 

ad  T.  Pomponium  Atticam  XVI ;  the  third,  Epistolarum 

ad  Q.  Fratrem  Libri  III ;   the  fourth,  in  most  editions, 

Epistolarum   ad   Brutum   Liber  —  a    series   of   eighteen 

letters  written  after  Caesar's  death,  eleven  from  Cicero 

to   Brutus,   six   from   Brutus   to   Cicero,   and  one   from 

Brutus  to  Atticus.     Of  that  notable  person,  everybody's 

friend,  to  whom  the  greater  part  of  Cicero's  letters  were 

addressed,  we  would  gladly  know  more.     We  know  at 

j  least  that  Titus  Pomponius  was  born  at  Rome,  109  B.C.,  Titus  Pom- 

of  a  wealthy  family  of  equestrian  rank;  and  that  when   P°"lusborn 

his  father  died,  while  he  was  quite  a  young  man,  leaving    109  b.c. 

him  a  moderate  fortune,  he  prudently  retired  with  it  to 

Athens11  in  order  to  escape  the  dangers  of  the  civil  war 

10  Smith,  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Biography  and  Mythology, 
vol.  i,  p.  744. 

11  About  86  B.C.  Cf.  Drumann,  vol.  v,  p.  8. 


416 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Out  of  his 
life  at  Athens 
grew  his  title 
of  Atticus. 


Money 
lender  and 
publisher 
at  Athens. 


His  return 
to  Rome. 


in  which  he  came  near  being  involved  through  his  kin- 
ship with  Sulpicius,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  popular 
party,  who  was  put  to  death  with  his  partisans  by  Sulla's 
order.  Then  and  there  it  was  that  he  resolved  to  stand 
aloof  from  public  affairs,  to  escape  the  entanglements 
of  faction  while  preserving  friendly  relations  with  all 
parties. 

Thus  removed  from  the  trials  and  dangers  of  Romai 
politics,  he  made  himself  a  part  of  the  life  of  Athens, 
where  he  distributed  corn  to  the  citizens,  lent  money  with- 
out interest  to  needy  men  of  letters,  distinguishing  him- 
self at  the  same  time  as  the  first  Roman  who  dared  tc 
declare  openly  his  fondness  for  the  arts  and  culture  ol 
Greece.  In  that  way  his  nickname  of  Atticus  was  acquired^ 
While  through  the  fortunate  purchase  of  an  estate  in 
Epirus,  which  prospered  under  his  skillful  management, 
his  means  began  to  grow,  fortune  came  in  a  larger  waw 
when  his  uncle,  Q.  Caecilius,  the  most  notorious  usurer 
in  Rome,  adopted  him  in  his  will,  leaving  him  the  greater 
part  of  his  estate,  ten  million  sesterces,  $400,000 12  or 
more.  He  was  thus  able  to  become  a  money  lender  and 
to  build  up  a  large  library  at  Athens,  in  which  he  kept 
a  staff  of  slaves  engaged  in  the  task  of  making  copies  of 
valuable  books  which  he  sold.13 

After  an  absence  of  more  than  twenty  years  from  Rome, 
broken  only  at  long  intervals  by  short  visits,  Atticus 
wound  up  his  banking  business  in  such  a  way  as  to  conceal 


12  Nepos,  Fit.  Att.,  2. 

13  Before  Atticus  left  Athens  he  had  a  whole  library  to  dispose  of.  Cicero 
had  his  eyes  upon  it  (Ad  Att.,  i,  10).  "His  household  staff,"  says  Nepos 
(Fit.  Art.,  13),  "though  insignificant  for  purposes  of  display,  was  admirable 
so  far  as  use  was  concerned.  It  comprised  a  number  of  highly  educated 
slaves,  excellent  readers  and  copyists  enough  and  to  spare;  indeed,  there 
was  not  a  footman  who  was  not  able  to  discharge  both  these  functions  with 
credit." 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  417 

the  sources  of  his  wealth,  and  returned  to  Rome,  where 
he  divided  his  time  between  his  town  and  country  houses.14 
The  natural  ties  of  friendship  which  bound  Cicero  to 
Atticus  had  been  strengthened  —  some  say  weakened  — 
by  the  marriage  of  the  former's  only  brother,  Quintus, 
to  the  latter's  sister,  Pomponia,15  a  touchy  and  jealous 
lady  who  found  relief  at  last  through  divorce.  But  over 
and  above  all  else  stood  the  fact  that  Atticus  was  Cicero's  Cicero's 
banker  and  book  publisher,  and  general  guide,  counsellor,  bookpub- 
and  friend,  ever  ready  to  buy  decorations  for  his  villas,  Usher, 
to  publish  in  Greek  the  history  of  his  consulship,  to  dis- 
suade him  from  suicide,  to  arrange  for  the  return  of  the 
dower  of  Terentia,  to  criticize  his  translation  of  KaOrjKov,16 
to  find  the  proper  persons  when  treatises  were  to  be  dedi- 
cated, and  finally  to  provide  loans  whenever  creditors 
were  importunate. 

This  priceless  friend  was  ever  ready  to  be  useful,  even 

as  a  target  when  the  barbed  arrows  of  sarcasm  could  find 

no   better  mark.      After   Pomponia's   son   Quintus   had 

made  a  pathetic  and  fruitless  appeal  to  his  famous  uncle 

j  for  a  loan,  he  told  Atticus :  "I  took  then  something  of 

\ your  eloquence;  I  answered  nothing."    As  another  tribute 

j  to  the  thriftiness  of  the  helpful  friend,  who  is  said  to 

lhave  expended  only  3,000  asses    ($30)    per  month  on   His 

[his  table,17   Cicero  circulated  the   report  that  he  often   Parsimony- 

served  to  his  guest  very  common  vegetables  on  very  costly 

plate.18    At  the  next  moment,  however,  the  great  orator 

14  His  house  at  Rome  was  on  the  Quirinal  near  the  temples  of  Salus  and 
Quirinus  (Ad  Att.,  xii,  45;  De  Leg.,  i,  1).  Its  chief  ornament  was  a  wood 
(sil<va)  or  park  (Nepos,  Fit.  Att.,  13). 

15  Nepos,  Fit.  Att.,  5.      16  Ad  Att.,  xvi,  14.      "  Nepos,  Fit.  Att.,  13. 

18  Ad  Att.,  vi,  1.  When  Cicero  sent  to  Atticus  (Ad  Att.,  xvi,  3)  his 
treatise  De  Gloria,  with  the  request  that  it  should  be  copied  on  large  paper, 
he  suggested  that  he  read  it  to  his  guests  at  a  dinner  he  was  about  to  give, 
adding:  "Give  them  a  decent  dinner  as  you  love  me;  else  they  will  vent  on 
;my  treatise  their  indignation  against  you." 


4i8 


Cicero's 
confidence 
in  him. 


His  last 
letter  to  him. 


Pen  picture 
of  Octavian. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

would  invite  the  thrifty  and  unselfish  friend  into  the  pene- 
tralia of  his  life,  and  exhibit  to  him,  behind  the  scenes, 
all  the  devices  by  which  he  produced  stage  effects.  In 
one  of  his  letters  he  says: 

My  book,  on  the  other  hand,  has  exhausted  the  whole  scent-box 
of  Isocrates,  and  all  the  paint-boxes  of  his  pupils,  and  even 
Aristotle's  colors.19 

That  he  loved  Atticus  tenderly  there  can  be  no  doubt; 
that  he  longed  for  him  always  is  made  plain  by  the 
exclamation : 

May  I  perish,  my  dear  Atticus,  if  either  my  Tusculan  villa, 
where  in  all  other  respects  I  am  very  happy,  or  even  "the  Isles 
of  the  Blest,"  could  satisfy  me  without  you.20 

The  last  letter  that  has  come  down  to  us  was  written 
from  Arpinum  between  November  1 1  and  December  9  of 
the  year  44  B.C.  to  Atticus  at  Rome,  in  which  Cicero  says: 

I  return  to  public  affairs.  I  have  received  —  heaven  knows  — 
many  a  prudent  word  from  you  under  the  head  of  politics,  but 
never  anything  wiser  than  your  last  letter:  "Though  that  youth 
is  powerful  and  has  given  Antony  a  fine  check;  yet,  after  all,  we 
must  wait  to  see  the  end."  My,  what  a  speech!  [The  contio 
delivered  by  Octavian  on  his  first  visit  to  Rome.]  It  has  been 
sent  to  me.  He  qualifies  his  oath  by  the  words:  "So  may  I  attain 
to  the  honors  of  my  father,"  and  at  the  same  time  he  held  out 
his  right  hand  in  the  direction  of  his  statue.  Nee  servatoribus . 
istis.  But,  as  you  say  in  your  letter,  the  most  certain  source  on 
danger  I  see  to  be  is  the  tribuneship  of  this  Caesar  of  ours.  This 
is  what  I  spoke  about  to  Oppius.  When  he  urged  me  to  open 
my  arms  to  the  young  man,  the  whole  cause,  and  the  bevy  of 
veterans,  I  replied  that  I  could  by  no  means  do  so  unless  I  was 
completely  satisfied  that  he  would  be  not  only  not  hostile  to  the 
tyrannicides,  but  actually  their  friend.  When  he  remarked  that 
it  would  be  so,  I  said,  "What  is  our  hurry  then?     For  Octavian 


19  Ad  An.,  u,  1. 


20  Ibid.,  xii,  3. 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  419 

does  not  require  my  services  till  January  1,  whereas  we  mean- 
while shall  learn  his  disposition  before  December  13  in  the  case 
of  Casca." 21  He  cordially  assented.  Wherefore,  so  far  so  good. 
For  the  rest  you  shall  have  a  letter  carrier  every  day,  and,  as  I 
think,  you  will  have  something  to  write  to  me  every  day. 

Then,  after  speaking  of  pressing  financial  difficulties 
connected  with  the  return  of  Terentia's  dower,  he  thus 
concludes : 

We  must  come  therefore  to  Rome  —  however  hot  the  confla- 
gration. For  personal  insolvency  is  more  discreditable  than  public  Personal 
disaster.  Accordingly,  on  the  other  subjects,  on  which  you  wrote  insolvency, 
to  me  in  a  most  charming  style,  I  was  too  completely  upset  to  be 
able  to  reply  in  my  usual  way.  Give  your  mind  to  enabling  me 
to  extricate  myself  from  the  anxiety  in  which  I  am  now.  By 
what  measures  I  am  to  do  so,  some  ideas  do  occur  to  my  mind, 
but  I  can  settle  nothing  for  certain  until  I  have  seen  you.22 

As  the  two  friends  met  at  Rome  on  December  9  the 
correspondence  was  in  that  way  interrupted;  and,  if  it 

;  was  ever  renewed,  the  subsequent  letters  have  been  lost. 

I  Atticus  did  everything  possible  for  Cicero  but  perish  with 
him.    He  escaped  from  the  shipwreck  in  which  his  friend   Atticus 
went  down ;  and  in  that  way  won  the  praise  of  his  indul-   sufvlved  the 

'  r  shipwreck. 

gent  biographer,  Cornelius  Nepos,  who  says: 

If  we  overwhelm  with  praises  the  pilot  who  saves  his  vessel 
from  the  rocks  and  tempests,  ought  we  not  to  consider  admirable 
ithe  prudence  of  a  man  who,  in  the  midst  of  those  violent  political 
storms,  succeeded  in  saving  himself  ? 23 

Atticus,  with  his  genius  for  friendship,  promptly 
became  the  friend  of  those  who  had  proscribed  the  orator 
himself.      The   friend   of   Brutus   and  the   confidant  of 

21  One  of  the  assassins,  and  a  tribune-elect  who  was  to  come  into  office 
December  10. 

™AdAtt.,xv\,  15. 
23  Nepos,  Fit.  A  it.,  10. 


4-20 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Tiro,  the  ora- 
tor's right- 
hand  man. 


Director  of 
the  household 
economy. 


"Tertia  will 
not  come  if 
Publius  is 
invited." 


Shorthand 
writer  and 
collaborator. 


Cicero  quickly  became  the  familiar  of  Antony  and 
Octavian,  frequented  their  houses,  and  attended  their 
fetes.24 

It  is  impossible  to  think  or  speak  of  the  correspondence 
in  question  apart  from  Tiro,  the  faithful  slave,  secretary, 
and  shorthand  writer,  who  did  so  much  to  create  it  and 
everything  to  preserve  it.    As  the  entire  fabric  of  society 
in  the  ancient  world  was  based  on  slavery,  it  is  at  once 
interesting  and  instructive  to  observe  the  tender  and  inti- 
mate relations  existing  between  Cicero  and  Tiro,   who 
was  probably  born  a  slave  in  the   family  in  which  he 
became  such  an  important  factor.      Becoming  attached 
to  him  in  his  youth,  his  master  took  a  personal  interest 
in  his  education,  thus  preparing  him  for  the  part  he  was 
to  play  in  the  house  as  the  regulator  of  its  order  and 
economy,  as  the  confidential  director  of  its  finances,  as 
the  supervisor  of  the  accounts  of  the  sometimes  inaccu- 
rate steward  Eros,  and  as  the  negotiator  of  loans  with] 
the  bankers  who  upheld  the  master's  credit  at  critical 
moments.     He  was  also  charged  with  the  supervision  ofj 
the  gardens,  of  all  building  operations,  and  even  with] 
the  delicate  task  of  sending  out  dinner  invitations  in  suchj 
a  way  as  to  assemble  congenial  guests,  ever  mindful  ofj 
the  fact  that  "Tertia  will  not  come  if  Publius  is  invited."  21 

It  was,  however,  as  Cicero's  private  secretary,  as  his 
shorthand  writer,26   as  the  decipherer  of  his  master's 
scribbling,27  which   other  copyists  could  not  read,   than 
Tiro  was  invaluable.     Nay,  more,  it  is  plain  that  this 

24  The  thrifty  Atticus  married  his  daughter  to  Agrippa,  and  thus  became 
the  grandfather  of  the  Roman  empress,  Vipsania  Agrippina,  the  consort  of 
Tiberius. 

25  Ad  Fam.,  xvi,  22.  Tertia  was  wife  of  Cassius  and  sister  of  Brutus. 
Who  Publius  was  we  do  not  know. 

™AdAtt.,  xiii,  25. 
27  Ad  Fam.,  xvi,  21. 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  421 

confidential  man  of  all  work  was  at  times  a  collaborator. 
Aulus  Gellius  says  that  he  aided  his  master  in  the  com- 
position of  his  works;28  and  in  a  letter  to  Tiro,  ill  at  the 
time,  Cicero  says: 

My  poor  studies,  or  rather  ours,  have  been  in  a  very  bad  way 
owing  to  your  absence.  However,  they  have  looked  up  a  little 
owing  to  this  letter  from  you  brought  by  Acastus.  Pompey  is 
staying  with  me  at  the  moment  of  writing  this,  and  seems  to  be 
cheerful  and  enjoying  himself.  He  asks  me  to  read  him  something 
of  ours,  but  I  told  him  that  without  you  the  oracle  was  dumb. 
Pray  prepare  to  renew  your  services  to  our  muses.20 

In  another,  written  on  his  journey  homeward  from 
Cilicia,  he  says: 

I  do  beg  you,  my  dear  Tiro,  not  to  spare  any  expense  in  any-  A  tender 
thing  whatever  necessary  for  your  health.  I  have  written  to  letter  from 
Curio  to  honor  your  draft  to  any  amount;  something,  I  thought, 
ought  to  be  paid  to  the  doctor  himself  to  make  him  more  zealous. 
Your  services  to  me  are  past  counting  at  home,  in  the  Forum,  at 
Rome,  in  my  province,  in  private  and  public  business,  in  my 
literary  studies  and  compositions.  But  there  is  one  service  you 
can  render  me  that  will  surpass  them  all  —  gratify  my  hopes  by 
appearing  before  me  well  and  strong!  I  think,  if  you  are  recov- 
ered, you  will  have  a  most  charming  voyage  home  with  the 
quaestor  Mescinius.  He  is  not  without  culture,  and  is,  I  thought, 
attached  to  you.  And  while  health  should  be  your  first  and  most 
careful  consideration,  consider  also  how  to  secure  a  safe  voyage, 
dear  Tiro.  I  would  not  have  you  hurry  yourself  now  in  any 
way  whatever.  I  care  for  nothing  but  your  safety.  Be  assured, 
dear  Tiro,  that  no  one  loves  me  without  loving  you;  and,  though 
•  it  is  you  and  I  who  are  directly  concerned  in  your  recovery,  yet 
it  is  an  object  of  anxiety  to  many.30 

Tiro  was  certainly  beloved  in  the  same  way  by  the 
whole  family,  because,  when  he  was  remiss  in  correspond- 
ence, Quintus  writes: 

28  A.  Gell.,  vii,  3  29  Ad  Tarn.,  xvi,  21.  30  Ibid.,  xvi,  4. 


422 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


From 
Quintus. 


From  Marcus 
the  younger. 


Tiro, 

inventor 

of  shorthand. 


"Takes  down 
whole  periods 
at  a  breath." 


I  have  chastised  you,  at  least  with  the  silent  reproach  of  my 
thoughts,  for  this  is  the  second  packet  that  has  arrived  without  a 
letter  from  you.  You  cannot  escape  the  penalty  for  this  crime 
by  your  own  advocacy;  you  will  have  to  call  Marcus  to  your  aid, 
and  do  not  be  too  sure  that  even  he,  though  he  should  compose  a 
speech  after  long  study  and  a  great  expenditure  of  midnight  oil, 
would  be  able  to  establish  your  innocence.  In  plain  terms,  I  beg 
you  to  do  as  I  remember  my  mother  used  to  do.  It  was  her 
custom  to  put  a  seal  on  wine-jars  even  when  empty  to  prevent  any 
being  labeled  empty  that  had  been  surreptitiously  drained.  In 
the  same  way  I  beg  you,  even  if  you  have  nothing  to  write  about, 
to  write  all  the  same,  lest  you  be  thought  to  have  sought  a  cover 
for  idleness;  for  I  always  find  the  news  in  your  letters  trust- 
worthy and  welcome.     Love  me,  and  good-bye.31 

Marcus  the  younger  was  equally  affectionate.  After 
Tiro  had  purchased  a  farm,  no  doubt  from  his  master's 
bounty,  the  son  wrote  a  playful  letter  in  which  he  says: 

You  are  a  man  of  property!  You  will  have  to  give  up  your 
fine  city  ways.  You  have  become  a  Roman  country-gentleman. 
I  see  you  as  large  as  life,  and  with  very  charming  look,  buying 
things  for  the  farm,  talking  to  your  bailiff,  and  keeping  the  seeds  you 
have  saved  from  the  dessert  in  the  corner  of  your  cloak.  But  as 
to  the  matter  of  money,  I  am  sorry  as  you  that  I  was  not  on  the 
spot  to  help  you.  But  do  not  doubt,  my  dear  Tiro,  of  my  assist- 
ing you  in  the  future,  if  time  does  but  stand  by  me ;  especially  as  I 
know  that  this  estate  has  been  purchased  for  our  joint  advantage.32 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Tiro  was  the  master,  pos- 
sibly the  inventor,  of  a  system  of  shorthand  which  enabled 
him  to  take  down  Cicero's  dictation  with  all  necessary 
rapidity.  In  the  letter  to  Atticus  in  which  he  describes 
the  painful  labor  imposed  upon  him  by  the  composition 
of  the  Academica,  Cicero  says: 

May  I  be  hanged  if  I  ever  take  so  much  trouble  again  about 
anything!     Consequently  I  did  not  dictate  it  even  to  Tiro,  who 
81  Ad  Tarn.,  xvi,  26.  32  Ibid.,  xvi,  21. 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  423 

usually  takes  down  whole  periods  at  a  breath,  but  syllable  by 
syllable  to  Spintharus.33 

There  was  no  lack  upon  the  part  of  Tiro's  shorthand; 
the  difficulty  was  with  the  subject,  which  was  so  compli- 
cated as  to  require  dictation  to  the  longhand  writer  Spin- 
tharus, "syllable  by  syllable."  In  a  very  long  letter 
written  to  Quintus,  while  he  was  in  Britain,  Cicero  says: 

Thus,  to  explain  its  being  in  another  handwriting,  I  dictated 
to  Tiro  while  at  dinner.34 

In  another  to  Atticus  he  says : 

However,  we  came  at  last  to  the  subject  of  Quintus  [the 
younger].  He  [Dolabella]  told  me  many  things  beyond  words 
—  beyond  expression;  but  there  was  one  of  such  a  kind  that,  had 
it  not  been  notorious  to  the  whole  army,  I  should  not  have  ven- 
tured, I  don't  say  to  dictate  to  Tiro,  but  even  to  write  it  with  my 
own  hand.35 

*  From  Sir  Edward  Maunde  Thompson  we  have  the  Thompson 

last  word  on  this  interesting  subject:  °Ti%lianaf. 

According  to  Suetonius  the  first  introduction  of  shorthand 
signs  or  notae  was  due  to  Ennius;  but  more  generally  Cicero's 
freedman,  M.  Tullius  Tiro,  is  regarded  as  the  author  of  these 
symbols,  which  commonly  bear  the  title  of  Notae  Tironianae. 
The  Tironian  notes  belonged  to  a  system  which  was  actually 
tachygraphic ;  that  is,  each  word  was  represented  by  a  character, 
alphabetic  in  origin,  but  having  an  ideographic  value.  The  notes, 
as  we  have  them,  have  come  down  to  us  in  a  mediaeval  dress,  and  In  a  medic- 
are probably  amplified  from  their  shapes  of  early  times  with  vari-  dress. 
ous  diacritical  additions  which  attached  to  them  after  the  practice 
of  the  system  had  died  out,  and  when  the  study  of  them  had 
become  an  antiquarian  pursuit,  demanding  a  more  exact  forma- 
tion of  the  symbols  and  their  variants  than  was  possible  or  neces- 

33  Ad  Alt.,  xiii,  25:   "Ergo  ne  Tironi  quidem  dictavi,  qui  totas  nepiox&t 
persequi  solet,  sed  Spintharo  syllabatim."  —  Letter  no.  642  in  Tyrrell. 

34  Ad  Quint.  Frat.,  iii,  1. 
S5  Ad  Att.,  xiii,  9. 


424  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

sary  to  a  shorthand  writer  familiar  with  the  system  and  writing 
at  full  speed.  Such  a  system  of  shorthand,  expressing  words  by 
comprehensive  symbols  or  word-outlines,  could  be  the  only  system 
possible  for  rapid  reporting  of  human  speech.  But  it  seems  that 
in  instances  where  a  symbol  was  not  forthcoming  to  express  an 
unusual  word,  such  as  a  proper  name,  it  was  customary,  at  least 
Group  of  syl-  in  the  written  notes  which  have  survived,  to  express  it  by  a  group 
labic  signs.  0f  SyHabic  signs.  A  reporter,  taking  down  a  speech,  could  not 
have  waited  to  express  the  unusual  word  or  proper  name  by  such 
a  slow  process;  and  no  doubt  in  actual  practice  he  would,  in  such 
an  emergency,  have  invented  on  the  spur  of  the  moment  such  con- 
ventional sign  which  he  would  remember  how  to  expand  after- 
wards. But  in  the  mediaeval  inscriptions  written  in  Tironian 
notes  a  syllabic  system  was  made  use  of  in  such  cases;  and  hence 
arose  variations  in  different  countries  in  the  syllabic  method  of 
expressing  words.38 

Another  high  authority  says : 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Romans  under  the  Empire  were 
acquainted  with  a  species  of  shorthand  writing  so  as  to  be  able 
to  take  down  fully  and  correctly  the  words  of  public  speakers, 
however  rapid  their  enunciation  (Martial,  Ep.  xix,  202;  Manil. 
Astron.,  iv,  197;  Senec,  Epist.,  90).  From  a  notice  in  the  Euse- 
bian  chronicle,  taken  in  combination  with  some  observations  in 
the  Origines  of  Isodorus  (i,  21),  it  has  been  inferred  that  Tiro 
was  the  inventor  of  the  art. 

While  it  is  impossible  to  fix  exactly  the  date  of  his 

Manumission  manumission,  we  know  that  Tiro  then  assumed  the  name 

ir°!iYu  °    of  Marcus  Tullius,  according  to  the  custom  in  such  cases. 

assumed  the  & 

name  of  In  the  letter  written  by  Quintus  to  his  brother,  congratu- 

TulHus.  lating  him  on  the  act  of  manumission,  he  says : 

I  am  delighted  about  Tiro.  He  was  much  too  good  for  his 
position,  and  I  am  truly  glad  that  you  preferred  that  he  should 
be  our  freedman  and  friend  rather  than  our  slave.  Believe  me, 
when  I  read  your  letter  and  his  I  jumped  for  joy,  and  I  both 

36  See  article  on  "Shorthand"  in  Enc.  Brit.,  nth  ed.,  vol.  xxiv,  p.  1008. 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  425 

thank  and  congratulate  you:  for  if  the  fidelity  and  good  character 
of  my  own  Statius  is  a  delight  to  me,  how  much  more  valuable 
must  those  same  qualities  be  in  your  man,  since  there  is  added  to 
them  knowledge  of  literature,  conversational  powers,  and  culture, 
which  have  advantages  even  over  those  useful  virtues.37 

About  this  time  it  was  that  Quintus  manumitted  his  Manumission 
confidential  servant,  Statius,  who  seems  to  have  had  such  Quin^s  y 
undue  influence  in  his  household  as  to  excite  hostile  com- 
ment, not  only  from  his  jealous  wife  Pomponia,38  but 
from  his  brother  Marcus,  who,  referring  specially  to 
Statius'  undue  influence  while  his  brother  was  governor 
of  Asia,  wrote : 

But  it  used  to  annoy  me  most  when  I  was  told  that  he  had 
greater  influence  with  you  than  your  sober  time  of  life  and  the 
wisdom  of  a  governor  permitted.      How  many  people,   do  you 
suppose,  have  solicited  me  to  give  them  a  letter  of  introduction 
to  Statius?     How  often,  do  you  suppose,  has  he  himself,  while 
talking   without   reserve   to  me,   made   such   observations   as   "I 
never  approved  of  that,"  "I  told  him  so,"  "I  tried  to  persuade 
him,"  "I  warned  him  not  to"?     And  even  if  these  things  show 
t   the  highest  fidelity,  as  I  believe  they  do,  since  that  is  your  judg- 
ment, yet  the  mere  appearance  of  a  freedman  or  slave  enjoying 
such  influence  cannot  but  lower  your  dignity;   and  the  long  and 
short  of  it  is  —  for  I  am  in  duty  bound  not  to  say  anything  with- 
|  out  good  grounds,  nor  to  keep  back  anything  from  motives  of 
!  policy  —  that  Statius  has  supplied  all  the  material  for  gossip  of 
I  those  who  wished  to  decry  you;  that  formerly  all  that  could  be 
;  made  out  was  that  certain  persons  were  angry  at  your  strictness; 
I  but  that  after  his  manumission  the  angry  had  something  to  talk 
about.30 

Instead  of  troublesome  presumption,  Tiro  was  full  of  TiroasClce- 

1*   •  r  r  ro's  literary 

'solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  his  patron  and  benefactor   executor. 

37  Ad  Fam.,  xvi,  16. 

88  For  Cicero's  amusing  account  of  his  brother's  family,  see  Ad  Att., 
v,  i,  3.  After  praising  the  amiability  of  his  brother  Quintus,  he  gives 
Atticus  to  understand  that  his  sister,  Pomponia,  is  a  heartless  shrew. 

89  Ad  Quint.  Fiat.,  i,  2. 


426  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

during  life,  and  for  his  fame  after  death.     Scenting  the 
battle  from  afar,  Cicero  wrote  to  him  in  July,  45  B.C.: 

I  see  what  you  are  about:  you  want  your  letters  also  to  be 
collected  into  books.  But  look  here !  You  set  up  to  be  a  standard 
of  correctness  in  my  writings  —  how  came  you  to  use  such  an 
unauthorized  expression  as  "by  faithfully  devoting  myself  to  my 
health"?    How  does  fideliter  come  in  there?40 

Just  a  year  later  he  wrote  to  Atticus : 

There  is  no  collection  of  my  letters  in  existence;  but  Tiro  has 
something  like  seventy.  Moreover  there  are  some  to  be  got  from 
you.  I  ought  to  look  through  and  correct  them.  They  shall  not 
be  published  until  I  have  done  so.41 

Cicero  had  some  time  before  drawn  the  distinction 
between  those  letters  written  spontaneously  with  no  view 
to  publication,  and  those  careful  compositions  which  were 
to  appear  as  essays,  when  in  a  letter  to  Trebonius,  then 
in  Spain,  he  said:  "For  I  write  in  one  style  what  I  expect 
that  only  the  persons  addressed,  in  another  what  I  expect 
that  many,  will  read."42  It  is  fortunate  that  Cicero's 
plan  of  revision  was  never  carried  out;  it  is  more  fortu- 
nate that  Tiro,  despite  his  feeble  health,  lived  until  he 
Devoted  re-  was  more  than  a  hundred  years  old,  devoting  the  re- 
mainder of  a    main(jer  of  that  long  life  to  the  labor  of  love  involved  in 

very  long  lire  ° 

to  his  task.  the  task  of  collecting  and  publishing  the  works  of  the 
illustrious  friend  with  whose  name  his  own  will  always 
be  connected.43  Through  his  efforts  were  preserved,  in 
all  their  natural  beauty  and  freshness,  not  only  the  sev- 
enty letters  which  his  patron  said  were  in  his  possession, 

40  Ad  Fam.,  xvi,  17. 

41  Ad  Att.,  xvi,  5. 

42  Ad  Fam.,  xv,  21. 

43  Quintilian  (at  the  end  of  bk.  x)  observes  of  the  notebooks  left  behind 
by  Cicero,  "Nam  Ciceronis  ad  praesens  modo  tempus  aptatos  libertus  Tiro 
contraxit ;  quos  non  ideo  excuso,  quia  non  probem,  sed  ut  sint  magis 
admirabiles." 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS  427 

but  the  entire  correspondence  as  it  now  exists.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  biography  of  Cicero,  he  brought  out  his  unpub- 
lished works,  including  his  smallest  notes  and  witticisms, 
of  which  it  is  said  he  made  too  large  a  collection,  and 
several  editions  of  his  speeches,  still  consulted  in  the  time 
I  of  Aulus  Gellius.  \ 

First  among  Cicero's  miscellaneous  works  should  be    Miscella- 
!  mentioned    the    Oeconomica    ex    Xenophonte,    produced   Oecomiidat 
I  when  he  was  about  twenty-one  years  of  age,  of  which    exXeno- 
I  he  says  in  the  De  Officiis,  after  speaking  of  health  and 


alth: 


•  we 

These  matters  Xenophon,  the  Socratic  philosopher,  has  dis- 
|  cussed  very  completely  in  that  book  which  is  entitled  Oeconomicus, 
i  which  I,  when  I  was  about  that  age  at  which  you  now  are, 
I  translated  from  the  Greek  into  Latin,44 

\  no  doubt  as  an   exercise  in  Latin  expression.     It  was 

I  divided  into  three  books,  the  first  relating  to  the  duties 

\  of  a  mistress  of  a  household  at  home;  the  second  to  the 

duties  of  the  master  of  a  household  out  of  doors;  while 

the  third  and  most  important,   no  doubt,   was  devoted 

to  the  subject  of  agriculture.     The  arguments  have  been 

preserved  by  Servius;  and  the  most  important  fragments 

I  of  this  work,  considered  as  notable  by  Saint  Jerome  as 

late  as  380  A.D.,  are  contained  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 

books  of  Columella  which,  with  those  derived  from  other 

sources,  are  to  be  found  in  Orelli's  Cicero,  vol.  iv,  pt.  2, 

p.  472. 

Only  a  few  sentences  remain  of  a  monograph  bearing 
some  such  title  as  De  Consiliis  suis,  which  was  published,    DeCon- 
as  we  learn  from  Asconius  and  St.  Augustine,  in  justifi-   s^nssuls- 
cation  of  Cicero's  policy  when  his  election  to  the  consul-    Consulate. 
ship   was   threatened   by  the   intrigues   of   Crassus   and 

**  De  Off.,  n,  24. 


428 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Panegyrics 
on  Cato 
and  Portia. 


Caesar  (Ascon.  ad.  Or  at.  in  Tog  Cand.;  Augustine,  c. 
Julian.  Pelag.,  v.  5;  Fronto,  Exc.  Elocut.).  His  only 
purely  historical  work  was  a  commentary  on  his  own 
consulship,  written  in  Greek  and  completed  before  the 
month  of  June,  60  B.C.,  of  which  he  says  in  a  letter  to 
Atticus,  who  was  to  be  the  publisher: 

This,  as  you  tell  me  in  another  letter,  you  glanced  over  at 
Corcyra,  and  afterwards  I  suppose  received  it  from  Cossinius.  I 
should  not  have  ventured  to  send  it  to  you  until  I  had  slowly 

and  fastidiously  revised  it Pray,  if  you  like  the  book,  see 

to  there  being  copies  at  Athens  and  other  Greek  towns;  for  it 
may  possibly  throw  some  lustre  on  my  actions.  As  for  my  poor 
speeches,  I  will  send  you  both  those  you  ask  for  and  some  more 
also,  since  what  I  write  to  satisfy  the  studious  youth  finds  favor, 
it  seems,  with  you  also.45 

While  this  Greek  prose  composition  has  been  entirely 
lost,  a  fragment,  consisting  of  seventy-eight  hexameters 
written  soon  after  as  a  Latin  poem  on  the  same  subject, 
is  quoted  in  the  De  Divinatione  (i,  11-13).  Only  a  few 
words  remain  of  the  panegyric  upon  Cato,  composed 
after  his  death  at  Utica  in  46  B.C.,  to  which  Caesar 
replied  in  the  monograph  entitled  Anticato.  (Gell.,  xiii, 
19;  Macrob.,  vi,  2).     In  a  letter  to  Atticus  he  says: 

What  the  nature  of  Caesar's  invective  in  answer  to  my  pane- 
gyric is  likely  to  be,  I  have  seen  clearly  from  the  book,  which 
Hirtius  has  sent  me,  in  which  he  collects  Cato's  faults,  but  com- 
bined with  very  warm  praise  of  myself.  Accordingly,  I  have  sent 
the  book  to  Musca  with  directions  to  give  it  to  your  copyists,  as  I 
wish  it  to  be  made  public.  To  facilitate  that  please  give  orders  to 
your  men.    I  often  try  my  hand  at  an  "essay  of  advice."  46 

That  "advice"  was  to  be  directed  to  Caesar,  on  the  re 
establishment  of  the  constitution,  after  the  manner  of 
the   treatise   addressed   by   Aristotle   to   Alexander  «/» 

45  Ad  Att.,  ii,  1.  46  Ibid.,  xii,  40.   See  also  Ad  Att,  xii,  4- 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  WORKS 


429 


/WAeias.  We  know  from  letters  to  Atticus47  that  he 
wrote  a  funeral  oration  on  Cato's  sister,  Portia,  the 
wife  of  Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  and  aunt  to  Brutus' 
wife  Portia. 

Cicero's  poetical  works,  most  of  which  belong  to  his    Poetical 
earlier  years,   when  considered,   as  they  should  be,   as   wor  s' 
exercises   undertaken    for    amusement   or    improvement, 
bring  no  discredit  upon  his  poetical  taste,  which  was  cer- 
tainly sharpened  by  his   studies  under  Archias.     Arati 
Phaenomena  and  Arati  Prognostica  were  certainly  juve- 
nile efforts,  although  subsequently  corrected  and  embel- 
lished.     Of  the   former  about  five  hundred  hexameter 
lines,  nearly  all  of  which  are  continuous,  and  of  the  latter 
twenty-seven  only,   remain.     Of  Aratus,   the  Stoic  poet   Aratus,  Stoic 
of  Soli  in  Cilicia,  largely  used  by  Virgil  in  his  Georgics,   poeto    °  u 
who  wrote  epics  on  the  heavens  without  any  knowledge 
of  astronomy,48   we   read   in  the  De  Natura  Deorum: 

I  will  say  here,  says  Balbus,  looking  at  me,  make  use  of  the 
verses  which,  when  you  were  young  you  translated  from  Aratus, 
and  which,  because  they  are  in  Latin,  gave  me  so  much  delight 
that  I  have  many  of  them  still  in  my  memory.49 

I  Of  Cicero's  translations  from  Homer,  specially  men-  Translations 
tioned  in  the  De  Finibus  (v,  18),  specimens,  amounting  rom  omer' 
I  in  all  to  forty-four  hexameters,  may  be  found  in  the  De 
\  D'minatione,  ii,  30;  Tusculanae  Disputationes,  iii,  26,  9; 
1  and  St.  Augustine,  De  Civ.  Dei,  v.  8.  For  the  poetical 
and  other  fragments  of  Cicero,  in  their  best  form,  with 
f  explanatory  notes,  see  volume  four  of  Orelli. 

47  Ad  Att.,  xiii,  37,  48. 

48  Cf.  Phaenomena,  ed.  E.  Maass,  1893 ;  Comm.  in  Aratum  reliquiae, 
!  coll.  E.  Maass,  1898.   St.  Paul  in  his  speech  upon  Mars  Hill  accepts  a  verse 

from  Aratus  as  a  text  upon  which  to  proclaim  the  fatherhood  of  God: 
I  "For  we  are  also  his  offspring"  (Acts  xvii,  28).  See  Arnold,  Roman 
I  Stoicism,  p.  409. 

49  De  Nat.  Deor.,  ii,  41. 


CHAPTER  XV 


A  turning- 
point  in  the 
world's 
history. 


Cicero  and 
St.  Paul. 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF   CICERO 

From  what  has  now  been  said  it  appears  that  at  a 
turning-point  in  the  world's  history  Marcus  Tullius 
Cicero,  the  brilliant  and  precocious  son  of  a  Roman 
country  gentleman,  passed  at  an  early  age  from  his  cradle 
spot  in  the  Volscian  mountains  into  the  city-state  of 
Rome,  at  a  time  when  its  rapid  increase  in  wealth,  after 
the  conquest  of  the  Mediterranean  basin,  had  brought 
about  a  condition  of  political  degeneration,  of  moral  and 
social  decadence,  emphasized  by  a  declining  birth-rate 
and  by  a  military  incapacity  that  became  more  marked  as 
its  power  was  extended  over  subject  peoples. 

Rome  was  at  that  moment  upon  the  eve  of  a  tremen- 
dous transition.  An  ancient  republic  that  had  bartered 
away  its  freedom  for  dominion  was  soon  to  be  trans- 
formed into  an  empire;  the  ancient  and  exhausted  pagan- 
ism was  soon  to  give  way  before  the  triumphant  march 
of  the  Christian  church.  Forty-three  years  after  the 
death  of  Cicero,  Christ  came  into  the  world;  and,  about 
thirty  years  after  the  death  of  Christ,  St.  Paul,  a  prisoner 
in  chains,  who  had  barely  escaped  shipwreck,  landed  on 
the  west  coast  of  Italy  near  Cicero's  country  seat  at 
Puteoli,  where  he  met  brethren1  who  promptly  informed 

1  "13.  From  thence,  compassing  by  the  shore,  we  came  to  Rhegium:  and 
after  one  day,  the  south  wind  blowing,  we  came  the  second  day  to  Puteoli; 
"14.  Where,  finding  brethren,  we  were  desired  to  tarry  with  them 
seven  days;  and  so  we  went  to  Rome."  —  Acts  xxviii.  The  Italian  Chris- 
tians had  long  been  looking  for  a  visit  from  the  famous  Apostle,  though 
they  did  not  expect  to  see  him  arrive  thus  a  prisoner  in  chains,  hardly 
saved  from  shipwreck.  Cf.  Conybeare  and  Howson,  The  Life  and  Epistles 
of  St.  Paul,  p.  725. 

430 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  431 

the  Christians  at  Rome  that  the  long-expected  Apostle 
of  the  Gentiles  was  among  them. 

The  avant-coureur  of  the  great  political  transition  in 
question  was  Sulla  — 

....  a  type  of  statesman  new  to  the  history  of  Rome,  a  type 
which  contemporaries  regarded  as  the  personal  creation  of  Sulla, 
but  which  was  in  reality  simply  the  inevitable  offspring  of  the 
commercial  era  and  of  democracy  as  it  was  understood  in  the 
ancient  world  —  the  type  of  the  military  chief  at  the  head  of  a 
devoted  army  which  he  controls  by  his  money  and  by  the  sword.2 

The  fact  has  heretofore  been  emphasized  that  after 
Sulla  had  passed  away  that  new  type  of  a  statesman  was   A  type  of 
reproduced  in  a  more  perfect  form  in  Pompey,  and  after   Bewtovu. 
he  had  passed   away,   in   a   still  more  perfect  form   in   toryofRome. 
Caesar.     The  entire  public  life  of  Cicero,  as  advocate, 
statesman,  and  philosopher,  was  passed  in  a  vain  effort 
to  revive  the  ancient  republican  constitution,  and  ancient 
political  and  moral  ideals,  after  their  overthrow  by  the 
new  imperial  system  represented  by  Sulla,  Pompey,  and 
Caesar  had  become  inevitable. 

After  thorough  training  by  the  best  masters  in  all  the  Italian  or 
[prevailing  forms  of  Greek  culture,  the  youthful  advo-  SocialWar- 
cate,  upon  the  threshold  of  his  forensic  career,  had  his 
hopes  blighted  for  the  moment  by  the  terrible  Italian 
war  which  swept  the  more  important  advocates  into  the 
army,  and  closed  all  the  courts  except  the  Commission 
for  High  Treason.  During  the  next  year  it  was,  the 
year  of  Sulla's  first  consulship  (88  B.C.),  that  the  Italian 
or  Social  War  was  transformed  into  a  Civil  War  in  which 
for  the  first  time  Roman  armies  were  opposed  to  each 
other  on  the  battlefield,  the  leaders  of  the  vanquished 
3arty  being  executed  and   their  heads   exposed  on   the 

2  See  above,  p.  188. 


i 


432 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


At  twenty- 
five  Cicero 
began  his  for- 
ensic career. 


His  entry 
into  politics. 


Leader  of 
the  Italian 
middle  class. 


J 


Rostra  as  those  of  enemies  of  the  state.  The  midnight 
did  not  begin  to  break  until  the  return  from  the  East  in 
83  B.C.  of  Sulla  who,  after  a  winter  passed  in  Campa- 
nia, pressed  forward  to  Rome,  overthrowing  the  younger 
Marius  in  82  B.C.,  and  entering  the  city  without  further 
opposition. 

It  was  under  the  Sullan  regime,  after  the  courts  had 
been  reopened,  with  certain  serious  changes  of  organiza- 
tion as  to  criminal  jurisdiction,  that  Cicero,  then  in  his 
twenty-fifth  year,  began  his  forensic  career. 

When  at  the  age  of  thirty-six  the  rising  orator,  through 
his  triumph  in  the  case  of  Verres,  won  the  leadership  of 
the  Roman  bar,  with  his  rival  Hortensius  humbled  in  the 
dust,  he  announced  his  entry  into  politics  by  declaring 
that  he  would  no  longer  appear  as  a  prosecutor. 

With  that  announcement  Cicero's  career  as  a  states- 
man, in  the  largest  sense  of  that  term,  really  begins. 
Like  his  great  fellow-townsman  Marius  he  was  a  self- 
made  man.  Despised  by  the  Roman  aristocracy  as  a 
peregrinus,  and  unpopular  with  the  Roman  populace,  he| 
was  the  trusted  leader  of  the  Italian  middle  class,  des- 
ignated by  him  as  "the  true  Roman  people."  Opposed 
alike  to  socialistic  dreams  and  aristocratic  exclusiveness, 
he  stood  with  them  for  the  ancient  simplicity  of  life  as 
against  the  splendid  luxury  of  the  capital. 

It  was  his  influence  with  the  middle  class  that  won  his 
elections  to  the  offices  of  quaestor,  aedile,  praetor,  and 
consul,  at  the  earliest  ages  at  which  it  was  possible  to 
hold  them;  it  was  their  voice  that  insisted  in  58  B.C.  upon 
his  recall  from  exile;  it  was  his  power  over  them  that 
made  Caesar  eager  to  win  him  over  in  49  B.C.3 

The  first  crucial  test  to  which  Cicero  was  subjected  as 

3  See  above,  p.  218. 


of  Catiline. 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  433 

a  statesman  arose  out  of  the  duty  that  devolved  upon  him 
as  consul  to  crush  a  conspiracy  that  found  ardent  sup-  Conspiracy 
porters  among  the  dissipated  youth  and  decadent  aris- 
tocracy of  Rome,  among  the  poor  in  all  parts  of  Italy, 
and  even  among  the  middle  class  of  well-to-do  proprie- 
tors, whom  the  passion  for  speculation  had  driven  into 
debt  —  a  conspiracy  involving  a  revolutionary  propaganda 
that  moved  society  to  its  depths. 

The  leader  of  that  conspiracy  was  Lucius  Sergius 
Catiline,  a  brawny  young  giant,  descended  from  one  of 
the  oldest  and  proudest  of  the  patrician  families,  who, 
after  his  second  defeat  for  the  consulship  in  63  B.C.,  re- 
solved upon  a  coup  d'etat,  involving  the  assassination  of 
Cicero  and  the  forcible  seizure  of  his  office,  to  be  carried 

lout    amid    an    insurrection    of    the    slaves    and    a    con- 
1  flagration  of  the  city  itself.     The  peril  could  not  have 

I  been   more   grave  —  the   consummate   courage   and   art 
i  by   which    it   was    averted   could   not   have   been   more 

A  complete. 

After  purchasing  the  neutrality  of  his  colleague  Anto- 

unius  through  a  transfer  to  him  of  his  province  of  Mace- 
donia, Cicero,  as  the  single  guardian  of  the  life  of  the 
(state,  played  the  game  with  such  boldness  and  craft  that 
Catiline    was    driven    from    Rome    without    bloodshed, 
Heaving  behind  him  a  headless  and  irresolute  group  who 
planned  their  own  destruction  when  they  approached  the 
Allobrogian  envoys  who  were  asked  to  aid  the  revolu- 
tionary forces  by  kindling  the  flames  of  war  beyond  the    Cicero's 
;Mps.     The  masterful  criminal  lawyer  surpassed  himself 
by  the  boldness,  the  rapidity,  the  finesse,  with  which  he 
Irew  the  bungling  conspirators  into  his  net;  the  resolute 
statesman  overstepped  no  doubt  the  bounds  of  legality 
When  he  induced  the  Senate  to  exceed  its  jurisdiction  in 


conduct. 


434 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


ed  at  the  time. 


condemning   them,   without  a   trial,    to   an   ignominious 
death. 

While  in  his  first  great  moment  of  dreadful  responsi- 
bility Cicero,  in  his  eagerness  to  save  the  life  of  the  state, 
may  have  disregarded  the  highest  guaranty  of  the  ancient 
constitution,  an  act  that  drew  after  it  the  gravest  personal 
consequences,  there  is  no  room  for  doubt  that  as  the  sole 
and  only  responsible  head  of  the  state  he  acted  with  an 
Howestimat-  unselfish  fearlessness,  a  rare  tact  and  decisiveness  whose 
complete  success  left  nothing  to  be  desired.  His  conduct 
was  so  regarded  at  the  time  by  those  who  witnessed  it. 
As  he  tells  us  near  the  close  of  the  Fourth  Catilinarian: 

Such  glory  during  life  as  you  have  honored  me  with  by  your 
decrees  no  one  has  ever  attained  to.  For  you  have  passed  votes 
of  congratulation  to  others  for  having  governed  the  Republic 
successfully,  but  to  me  alone  for  having  saved  it.4 

The  second  notable  adversary  with  whom  Cicero  was 
called  upon  to  deal  as  a  public  man  was,  in  a  certain 
sense,  as  formidable  as  the  first.  The  aristocrat  Publius 
Clodius,  while  no  doubt  a  degenerate,  was  the  brother- 
in-law  of  Lucullus,  the  instrument  of  Pompey,  the  elec- 
toral agent  of  Caesar,  and  a  most  dexterous  leader  of 
the  Roman  mob,  more  frightful  than  our  own,  because 
drawn  from  lower  and  more  formidable  elements.  In 
the  very  midst  of  the  Catiline  menace  occurred  the  Bona 
Dea  scandal  in  which  Clodius  and  Caesar's  wife,  Pompeia, 
were  so  deeply  involved. 

No  matter  whether  Cicero  was  drawn  into  the  position 
of  a  voluntary  witness  against  Clodius  in  order  to  quiet 
the  suspicions  of  the  jealous  and  shrewish  Terentia  as 
to  Clodia,  the  fact  remains  that  from  that  time  the  bold 
and  all-powerful  demagogue  became  his  enemy  and  re- 

*  IV  Phil.,  10. 


Clodius  as 
leader  of  the 
Roman  mob. 


Bona  Dea 
scandal. 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  435 

solved  to  wreck  him,  with  the  tacit  consent  of  his  rivals, 
upon  the  ostensible  plea  that  as  consul  he  had  unlawfully 
executed  the  associates  of  Catiline. 

There  are  those  who  attempt  to  belittle  Cicero,  claim-  Hiswaiiings 
ing,  and  no  doubt  justly,  that  in  the  midst  of  a  calamity  lna  verslty# 
so  sudden  and  so  withering  as  his  exile,  he  did  not  con- 
duct himself  with  that  calm  resolution  and  patient  forti- 
tude which  should  have  been  exhibited  by  a  really  great 
character  even  under  such  circumstances.  How  the  fallen 
idol  poured  out  his  lamentations  has  been  fully  explained 
heretofore. 

To  Quintus  he  wrote: 

I  was  unwilling  to  be  seen  by  you.     For  you  would  not  have 

seen  your  brother  —  not  him  whom  you  had   quitted;  not  him 

whom  you  have  known ;  not  him  whom  you  left  in  tears  at  your 

!  departure,  when  you  were  yourself  in  tears  —  not  even  a  trace 

\  of  him  —  not  a  shadow,  but  the  image  of  a  breathing  corpse ! 5 

By  such  outbursts  of  grief  and  despair  did  the  exiled 
!  statesman,  the  spoiled  child  of  fame  and  fortune,  do 
more  than  prove  to  the  world  that  Seneca  was  right 
when  he  said:  "There  is  no  one  more  unfortunate  than 
the  man  who  has  never  been  unfortunate,  for  it  has  never 
:  been  in  his  power  to  try  himself."6  Does  the  fact  that 
Napoleon  was  not  always  heroic  during  his  exile  at  St. 
Helena,  does  the  fact  that  his  cruel  captivity  was  punc- 
tuated by  petty,  spiteful  quarrels  with  Sir  Hudson  Lowe, 
destroy  the  glory  won  at  Marengo,  Austerlitz,  Jena, 
Friedland,  Borodino,  and  the  Pyramids?  The  French 
never  attribute  courage  to  any  man  as  a  never- failing  The  true  test 
quality.  They  say  he  was  brave  today,  and  may  be  brave  of  courage- 
tomorrow.  And  so  nothing  is  more  unjust,  more  illogical, 
than  that  kind  of  criticism  which  attempts  to  rob  great 

6  Ad  Quint.  Frat.,  i,  3.  6  De  Provid.,  Hi. 


436 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Judgments 
of  contem- 
poraries. 


Cicero  never 
faltered 
on  a  great 
occasion. 


men  of  the  praise  due  for  heroic  deeds  performed  on 
supreme  occasions  by  a  recitation  of  the  fact  that  under 
commonplace  and  vexing  conditions  they  yielded  to 
infirmities  indigenous  in  human  nature. 

Posterity  should  never  ignore  the  judgments  passed 
upon  a  man's  acts  by  his  contemporaries  present  when 
they  occurred.  Certainly  the  Romans,  who  forced  Cicero's 
recall  and  greeted  him  upon  his  return  from  exile  with 
such  an  oration  as  no  other  man  ever  received,  could  not 
have  thought  ill  of  his  conduct  in  the  hour  of  adversity. 
The  twenty-four  days  consumed  on  the  journey  from 
Brundusium  to  Rome  was  a  triumphal  procession;  even 
Plutarch  says  it  was  no  exaggeration,  yea  less  than  the 
truth,  when  Cicero  declared  that  he  was  carried  back  to 
Rome  on  the  shoulders  of  Italy.  No  matter  how  vain, 
how  impatient,  how  irresolute,  how  despairing  the  emo- 
tional nature  of  Cicero  may  have  been  on  ordinary  occa- 
sions, a  careful  study  of  his  acts  sustains  the  assertion 
that  never  on  a  great  one  did  he  falter. 

When  the  supreme  moment  arrived,  when  the  rich 
and  powerful  Verres  was  to  be  scourged  and  driven  out 
in  defiance  of  his  august  retainers;  when  the  life  of  the 
state  was  to  be  defended  against  such  desperate  and 
resourceful  warriors  as  Catiline  and  Marc  Antony,  his 
imperious  personal  leadership,  his  unselfish  courage  were 
always  unfailing  even  unto  death.  When  the  time  came 
for  him  to  follow  Pompey,  knowing  as  he  did  that  Pompey 
was  doomed,  he  did  not  falter  because  both  honor  and 
duty  made  the  path  plain  for  him. 

The  final  test  of  Cicero's  courage  and  patriotism  came 
during  the  fateful  year  and  eight  months  that  intervened 
between  the  assassination  of  Caesar  by  the  tyrannicides 
and  his  own  assassination  at  the  hands  of  the  Imperialists 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  437 

—  the  interval  occupied  by  the  duel  to  the  death  with    Duel  to 

Antony,  who  quickly  resolved  to  seize  the  purple  of  his   wieth  Antony. 

fallen  benefactor  and  to  make  himself  his  heir.     Such 

was  his  deliberate  purpose  from  the  day  he  conducted 

the  funeral  of  the  regent,  whose  body  was  brought  from 

his  palace,  where  it  had  been  lying  since  the  assassination, 

down  to  the  Forum  and  placed  upon  the  Rostra  with  the 

blood-soaked  toga  still  wrapped  about  it.     After  he,  by 

his   consummate    art   and   eloquence    inherited    from    a 

famous  father,  had  driven  from  Rome  those  who  had 

planned  and  executed  the  assassination  of  Caesar,  but 

one  real  gladiator  remained  in  the  arena,  a  gladiator 

who  resolved  to  defend  alone  the  fallen  Republic  in  its 

death   agony  and  to   go  down  with   it  into  the  grave. 

His  position  at  this  juncture  was  at  once  unique  and 
imposing.  Nearly  all  of  the  great  actors  contemporary 
with  him  had  passed  from  the  stage,  many  of  them  to 
bloody  graves.  His  commanding  intellect  and  reputa- 
tion qualified  him  in  a  peculiar  way  for  the  unofficial 
leadership  the  Roman  Senate  and  people  were  soon  to 
thrust  upon  him.  Public  opinion  among  the  Romans  in 
Italy  never  wavered  in  its  devotion  to  the  republican 
cause  until  put  down  by  armed  force. 

The  moment  Antony  threw  off  the  mask  and  ceased 
to  dissemble,  Cicero  was  ready  with  the  First  Philippic,   First 
a  grave,   dignified,   self-restrained  criticism  of  Caesar's       ' ippic 
acts  and  Antony's  policy,  without  being  a  declaration  of 
war.     And  yet  he  had  said  enough  against  the  consul  to 
settle  the  fact  that  he  left  the  Senate  his  declared  enemy. 
The  most  important  asset  Caesar  had  left  behind  him, 
from  a  political  point  of  view,  was  represented  by  the 
thirty-six  legions  to  whose  training  as  fightng  machines   'Thestrug- 
1  he  had  devoted  the  best  energies  of  his  life.     It  is  not   legions. 


438 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Center  of 
gravity  of 
the  state  had 
shifted. 


Siege  of 
Mutina. 


therefore  strange  that  when  Antony  appropriated  the 
inheritance  of  Octavian,  and  attempted  to  treat  him  with 
contempt,  the  real  heir,  who  had  just  completed  his  nine- 
teenth year,  after  allying  himself  with  the  republicans, 
prompted  his  agents  to  incite  the  legions  at  Brundusium 
to  abandon  Antony,  while  he  himself  appealed  to  Caesar's 
veterans  settled  on  their  lands  in  Campania  to  come  to 
his  standard. 

No  matter  what  Cicero,  Antony,  or  Octavian  might 
say,  the  event  depended  upon  what  the  heaviest  battalions 
resolved  to  do.  Thus  the  center  of  gravity  of  the  state 
had  shifted.  Under  the  old  constitution  those  who  aspired 
to  supreme  power  at  Rome  asked  it  at  the  hands  of  the 
citizens  assembled  in  the  Forum  or  Campus  Martius; 
under  the  new  Caesarian  system  such  power  had  to  be 
sought  in  the  camps  of  the  veteran  legions. 

With  a  perfect  appreciation  of  the  political  value  of 
the  legions,  Antony  resolved  to  take  from  Decimus 
Brutus  his  command  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  given  him  by 
Caesar  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate  after  his  death. 
With  that  all-important  post,  backed  by  a  strong  military 
force,  the  consul  believed  that  he  would  have  at  his 
mercy  not  only  the  capital  but  the  wide  plains  of  the 
region  now  known  as  modern  Lombardy. 

After  Decimus  had  rejected  that  aggression  as  uncon- 
stitutional, he  awaited  an  attack  behind  the  powerful 
walls  of  the  fortress  of  Mutina,  where  he  was  besieged 
by  Antony  until  the  following  April.  There  the  last 
stand  was  made  for  the  Roman  Republic;  there  the  vet- 
eran legions  completed  the  transfer  of  the  sovereign 
power  to  the  new  military  monarchy.  And  yet  when 
the  siege  of  Mutina  began  it  seemed  to  be  certain  that 
the   Caesarians  could  be  overthrown  and  the   Republic 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  439 

reestablished,  if  only  a  leader  could  be  found  equal  to 
the  emergency. 

There  was  but  one  leader  possible,  a  man  then  sixty- 
two  years  old,  who  was  more  capable  of  wielding  the 
pen  than  the  sword.  As  the  life  and  soul  of  the  opposi- 
tion to  Antony,  he  had  become  the  spokesman  of  those 
who  called  themselves,  as  Appian  tells  us,  Ciceronians 
—  those  who  still  clung  to  the  traditions  of  the  Republic 
and  to  the  principles  of  the  ancient  constitution.  The 
decisive  hour  of  his  life  had  arrived.  Under  such  con- 
ditions would  the  conqueror  of  Catiline  attempt  to  save 
the  Republic  a  second  time?  On  the  morning  of  Decem- 
ber 20,  he  took  the  decisive  step  by  assuming  the  leader- 
ship in  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  and  with  a  boldness  and 
defiance  that  indicated  that  he  had  burned  all  bridges 
behind  him. 

Shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the  new  year,  43  B.C., 
realizing  that  the  republican  cause  could  only  be  advanced 
by  revolutionary  methods,  Cicero  met  the  situation  by 
the  furious  assault  upon  Antony  contained  in  the  Fifth 
Philippic,  pointed  with  the  intimation  that  his  ulterior 
object  was  to  capture  Transalpine  Gaul  so  as  to  be  able 
to  return  with  sufficient  forces  to  enable  him  to  seize  the 
capital.  At  that  critical  moment  of  waiting,  which  may 
be  considered  the  prologue  to  the  civil  war  soon  to  begin 
in  the  valley  of  the  Po,  Cicero,  imbued  with  the  belief 
that  he  was  the  parliamentary  champion  of  the  constitu- 
tion, became,  in  fact  if  not  in  law,  the  head  of  the  sena- 
torial government  of  the  Republic.  "He  was,  in  fact,  Cicero  prime 
prime  minister  of  Rome,"7  and  as  such  he  was  forced  R0^ter° 
not  only  to  discharge  the  duties  of  many  of  the  missing 
officers  of  state,  but  to  breathe  into  the  weak  and  waver- 

7  See  above,  p.  292. 


440  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

ing  a  fiery  enthusiasm  and  force  such  as  he  had  scarcely 
possessed  in  his  earlier  years. 

As  the  inflexible  leader,  who  stood  alone  with  a  whole- 
hearted desire  for  war,  he  said: 

What  a  responsibility  it  is  to  support  worthily  the  character  of 
a  chief  of  the  Roman  Commonwealth;  those  who  bear  it  should 
shrink  from  offending  not  only  the  minds  but  the  eyes  of  their 
fellow  citizens.8 

Less  than  six  months  intervened  between  the  glorious 
April  19,  when  the  people,  after  the  arrival  of  bulletins 
announcing  victory  in  the  first  battle  of  Mutina,  escorted 
Cicero  in  triumph  to  the  Capitol  and  back  again,  and 
the  day  on  which  the  Caesarian  triumvirate  condemned 
him  unheard  to  a  traitor's  death.  During  the  interval 
he  led  with  all  the  heroism  of  despair  a  forlorn  hop< 
Why  sue-  beset  by  conditions  that  made  success  impossible.  The 
cess  was         nature   of  those   conditions   revealed   themselves   in   the 

impossible. 

moment  of  victory  that  followed  the  second  battle  oi 
Mutina,  when  Octavian  failed  to  join  Decimus  Brutus  in 
the  pursuit  and  destruction  of  Antony.  In  the  graphic 
Reason  given  words  of  Decimus:  "I  cannot  command  Caesar,  anc 
B^musimUS  Caesar  cannot  command  his  troops.  These  are  both 
very  ugly  facts." 9  The  builders  of  the  new  military 
Empire  had  no  idea  of  immolating  themselves  on  the 
grave  of  the  dead  Republic. 

As  the  Caesarian  mania  grew,  the  legions,  believing 
that  their  interests  would  be  best  promoted  by  a  military 
monarchy,  drew  together  in  a  coalition  whose  primary 
purpose  was  a  campaign  of  revenge  against  those  who 
had  so  cruelly  arrested  its  growth.  In  that  campaign 
of  revenge  Cicero  perished  after  he  had  been  surrendered 
to   the   executioners  by   Octavian,   who   had   called   him 

s  VIII  Phil.,  x.  9  Ad  Tarn.,  xi,  9. 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  441 

"father."  Declining  both  exile  and  suicide,  the  sole  sur- 
viving defender  of  the  ancient  constitution  met  his  fate 
serenely  when  the  time  came  for  him  to  seal  his  devotion 
with  his  blood. 

\  In  a  very  peculiar  and  emphatic  sense  the  life  of  Cicero   Cicero  as  a 
was  twofold.     Behind  the  stirring  and  highlv  dramatic   man°f^n- 

0  °     J  templation. 

scenes  of  the  life  of  the  man  of  action,  there  was  ever 
flowing  like  a  stream  through  a  shadow  land  the  stronger 
and  deeper  life  of  the  man  of  contemplation,   of  the 
philosophic  and  poetic  dreamer  whose  thoughts  were  for 
all  time.     By  the  contrast  heretofore  suggested  between 
a  fruit-bearing  tree  and  a  thought-bearing  man  an  attempt 
was  made  to  emphasize  the   fact  that  from   about  his 
twentieth  to  his  sixty-fourth  year  Cicero's  mind  persisted 
in  producing  at  fairly  regular  intervals  fruits  which  never 
dwindled  either  in  quantity  or  quality.     His  intellectual   His 
output  was  never  more  brilliant  or  more  bountiful  than   S5ifa£2i 
during  the  two  years  immediately  preceding  his  death. 
And  here  special  emphasis  should  be  given  to  the  fact  that 
there  seems  to  have  been  no  deliberate  design  in  the  direc-  No  deliberate 
1    tion  of  authorship.    Each  of  Cicero's  productions  seems  to  design ln  the 

• ■ *^ ; direction  of 

,  have  been  the  natural,  perhaps  the  inevitable,  outcome  authorship. 
of  the  career  of  an  intensely  human  and  rarely  gifted 
man  who  was  ever  applying  the  fruits  of  abstract  specu- 
lation to  the  practical  problems  of  life  at  a  time  when 
such  problems  were  passing  through  the  crucible  of  a 
profound  political  and  spiritual  revolution.  Each  of  his 
works  seems  to  have  bloomed  naturally  out  of  the  special 
circumstances  of  the  period  to  which  it  belongs. 

Out  of  Cicero's  practical  experience  as  a   statesman 
grew  his  works  on  the  science  of  politics,  i.  e.,  on  govern-  Treatises  on 

■  ment  and  law.     Elated  by  the  brilliant  reception  of  the    fjd"™ent 
De  Oratore,  he  began  in  54  B.C.,  when  Caesar  was  pre- 


442  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

paring  for  his  second  invasion  of  Britain,  to  work  on 

his  comprehensive  treatise  on  the  Commonwealth  known 

De  as  De  Republica,  a  work  whose  direct  and  practical  pur- 

Republica.  ,-,  .  .  ,        .  ... 

pose  was  to  arouse  Koman  citizens  to  the  dangers  which 
then  threatened  destruction  to  the  liberties  of  their 
country.  In  appealing  to  his  countrymen  "to  rise  on 
stepping-stones  of  their  dead  selves  to  higher  things," 
the  inspired  patriot  did  not  hesitate  to  promise  that  all 
patriotic  and  philanthropic  statesmen  should  not  only  be 
rewarded  on  earth  by  the  approval  of  their  own  con- 
sciences and  the  applause  of  all  good  citizens,  but  by 
immortal  glory  in  a  realm  beyond  the  grave. 

About  the  year  52  B.C.  appeared  as  a  supplement  the 

DeLegibus.  De  Legibus,  whose  relation  to  the  De  Republica  has  been 
described  already. 

When  due  weight  is  given  to  the  motive  that  inspired 

DeOfficiis.  the  production  of  the  treatise  entitled  De  Officiis,  it  must 
be  regarded  as  the  conclusion  of  an  appeal  for  the  regen- 
eration of  the  Roman  Republic  first  made  in  the  De 
Republica,  and  its  supplement,  De  Legibus.  Eight  years 
had  passed  by  since  the  composition  of  the  last  named; 
the  tragedy  of  the  ides  of  March  was  over;  Cicero,  weary 
and  disillusioned,  had  written  the  Second  Philippic  but 
had  not  published  it,  when  in  his  lonely  villa  at  Puteoli, 
he  resolved  — 

....  to  make  one  more  search,  as  his  predecessors  had  done, 
for  the  hidden  means  of  conciliating  imperialism  with  liberty, 
progress  with  prosperity,  luxury  and  wealth  with  social  and  politi- 
cal discipline,  and  intellectual  culture  with  morality.10 

Ignoring  the  capital  advance  which  Aristotle  had  made 
in  separating  ethics  from  politics,  Cicero,  in  the  three 
connected  compositions  in  question,   acting  rather  as  a 

10  See  above,  p.  370. 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  443 

statesman  than  as  a  philosopher,  employed  Stoic  ethics, 
considered  as  an  applied  moral  science,  as  a  driving  power 
in  Roman  politics.  Who  can  read  the  famous  trilogy  as  Motive  of  fa- 
a  connected  whole  without  perceiving  a  most  deliberate  mous  tnl°gy- 
and  persistent  effort  upon  the  part  of  their  author  to 
employ  Stoic  ethics,  as  an  applied  moral  science,  as  the 
best  and  only  means  of  regenerating  Roman  social  and 
political  life? 

Finally  as  Cicero  ascended  towards  the  zenith  of  his 
powers  his  ripest  thoughts  were   recorded  in  the  more 
mature  works  on  philosophy  and  theology  which  admit  us   Treatises  on 
into  the  penetralia  of  his  mind  and  soul.  |   No  matter   a^^olo 
whether  it  be  classicist  or  publicist  who  attempts  to  solve 
the  problem  of  problems  involved  in  his  life,  no  progress  -> 
will  be  made  unless  he  is  clear-visioned  enough  to  brush 
aside  the  thin  veil  that  conceals  the  fact  that  when  the 
great  orator  laid  down  the  dexterous  arts  of  the  advocate 
and  assumed  the  stern  moral  and  patriotic  duties  of  the 
statesman,  he  at  the  same  time  put  aside  the  quibbling 
skepticism] of  the  Academy  for  the  lofty  precepts  of  the 
new   world-religion   known    as    Stoicism,    by   which    the 
i  philosophers    and   jurists   of    Rome   became    completely 
[  enthralled. 

It  is  impossible  to  grasp  the  real  significance  of  Cicero's 
intellectual  life  as  a  connecting  link  between  the  ancient 
and  modern  world  without  a  clear  comprehension  of  the 
fact  that  "the  deeper  substratum  of  his  spiritual  affinity," 
which  finally  enveloped  his  mind  and  soul,  was  Roman  Stoicism  the 
stoicism  in  its  purest  and  most  scientific  formi  un  ertone- 

In  the  analyses  heretofore  made  of  the  ~De  Finibus, 
treating  of  the  Supreme  Good,  considered  as  the  essence 
of  practical  wisdom,  and  involving  the  ultimate  founda- 
tions of  ethics;  of  the  Tusculan  Disputations,  involving 


I  [In 


444  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

incidental  questions  concerning  ethics;  of  the  Paradoxa 
Stoicorum,  a  jeu  d 'esprit  constructed  as  a  covert  attack 
upon  Hortensius,  Crassus,  and  Lucullus;  of  the  De  Settee- 
tute,  the  most  charming,  perhaps,  of  all  Cicero's  essays 
on  the  philosophy  of  morals;  of  its  sequel,  the  De  Ami- 
citia;  of  the  De  Natura  Deorum,  a  treatise  on  the  phi- 
losophy of  religion;  of  its  sequel,  the  De  Divinatione,  a 
treatise  on  the  mantic  art;  of  the  De  Fato,  the  last  of  the 
series  of  dissertations  on  speculative  theology,  a  persis- 
tent effort  was  made  to  explain  how  it  was  that  whenever 
in  his  later  years  Cicero  spoke  seriously  as  a  jurist,  states- 
man, moralist,  or  theologian,  it  was  to  emphasize  wit! 
God  as  the  all  the  force  in  his  ardent  nature  some  one  of  the  great 
Semianent  principles  involved  in  the  Stoic  cosmopolis  or  world-state, 
uniform,         ruled  by  a  single  God  as  the  source  of  permanent,  uni- 

and  univer-       -  ,  ,   ,      *"y 

sal  law.  form,  and  universal  law.  \ 

o^,  ^_By  that  magnificent  notion  of  one  supreme  God,  cre- 
ating and  governing  everything  through  permanent, 
uniform,  and  universal  law,  pantheism  was  practically 
annihilated,  the  swarm  of  little  gods  being  reduced  to 
mere  personifications  of  physical  forces.  Armed  with 
that  new  Stoic  conception  of  a  single  and  law-creating 
God,  and  with  that  logic  in  which  the  Stoics  were  such 

Definitionsof  adepts,  Cicero  was  able  to  redefine  the  immortality  of  the 

immorta  lty.  gouj  an(j  a  conscjous  personal  existence  after  death  with  a 
distinctness  and  convincing  power  which  a  dreaming  phi- 
losopher like  Plato,  not  so  armed,  had  never  been  able 
to  impart  to  such  thoughts. 

As  sidelights  to  the  long  procession  of  Cicero's  didactic 

Orations  mental  creations  we  have  the  fifty-seven  immortal  ora- 
tions, and  the  priceless  letters  which  begin  in  his  thirty- 
ninth  year  (68  B.C.)  when  he  was  already  a  man  of 
established  reputation,  and  end  with  the  touching  appeal 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  445 

addressed  to  Cassius,  written  very  early  in  July,  43  B.C. 
The  entire  correspondence,  extending  over  a  period  of 
twenty-six  years,  and  embracing  nearly  a  thousand  letters, 
constitutes  the  most  voluminous  record  that  has  descended 
from  antiquity  of  the  acts,  the  thoughts,  the  feelings  of 
one  of  the  most  gifted  men  who  ever  lived,  while  passing 
through  the  most  momentous  events  incident  to  a  turning- 
point  in  the  world's  history.  A  special  student  of  these 
letters  has  said: 

Not  only  were  the  times  in  which  Cicero  lived  focal  for  history,  Moral  values 
but  they  were  exceedingly  perplexing.  Precedents  and  traditions  as  expressed 
supplied  no  solution  for  problems  that  were  arising  —  problems 
of  which  our  author  might  well  say  that  they  were  "baffling  and 
insoluble;  and  yet  a  solution  must  be  found"  (A.,  8,  3,  6).  The 
strongest  motives  usually  found  cooperating  would  be  directly 
opposed  to  each  other.  These  were  surely  circumstances  adapted 
to  stimulate  the  balancing  of  values,  the  examination  of  the  goods 
in  view  of  which  choices  are  made.11 


These  wonderful  compositions,  sparkling  with  wit  and  Revelations 

as  to  Rorr 
etiquette. 


written   in  every  style,   touch  every  octave  of  life  and 


thought  from  the  gravest  matters  of  state  down  to  the 
trivialities  involved  in  the  etiquette  of  the  time. 

The  letters  of  Cicero  give  one  the  impression  that  he  and  his 
contemporaries  had  a  delicate  sense  of  appreciation  of  the  niceties 
of  courtesy,  and  that  while  their  standards  do  not  measure  up  to 
what  the  twentieth  century  would  consider  correct,  there  did  exist 
a  certain  amount  of  conventional  decorum,  and  a  more  or  less 
general  regard  for  it  in  so-called  "polite  society."  12 

The  fragmentary,  yet  vivid,  history  thus  written  of  the 
last  days  of  the  Roman  Republic,  coming  as  it  does  from 
such  a  pen,  is  beyond  all  price.     Cornelius  Nepos  was 

11  See  Warren  Stone  Gordis,  The  Estimates  of  Moral  Values  Expressed 
in  Cicero's  Letters,  University  of  Chicago  Press,  p.  7. 

12  See  Anna  Bertha  Miller,  Roman  Etiquette  of  the  Late  Republic  as 
Revealed  by  the  Correspondence  of  Cicero,  p.  vii,  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, 1914. 


446 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero's  con- 
tributions 
to  Roman 
literature. 


And  to  the 
Latin  tongue. 


certainly  right  when  he  said  that  he  who  reads  these  let- 
ters will  not  be  tempted  to  seek  the  history  of  these 
dramatic  times  elsewhere. 

As  we  gaze  in  wonder  upon  the  mass  of  recorded 
thought,  formal  and  informal,  which  Cicero  left  behind 
him,  it  is  impossible  not  to  contrast  its  richness  and  vol- 
ume with  the  disjointed  fragments  constituting  what  was 
called  Latin  literature  when  his  youthful  studies  began. 
The  fact  that  Ennius  and  Caius  Gracchus  held  the  first 
places  among  the  Latin  classics,  studied  by  the  young  ad- 
vocates as  models  of  style,  naturally  suggests  the  poverty 
of  Roman  letters  at  that  time.  The  Romans  had  then  no 
manuals  of  philosophy  or  any  philosophical  writings  in 
Latin  apart  from  the  poem  of  Lucretius  and  some  poor 
productions  by  obscure  Epicureans.  Furthermore  Latin 
was  not  a  philosophical  language,  nor  one  in  which  a 
deep  thinker  could  express  himself  with  clearness  and 
purity. 

In  the  presence  of  such  conditions  Cicero  set  for  him- 
self the  task  of  restating  in  Latin  manuals  the  entire 
deposit  of  philosophic  and  political  thought  made  by  the 
Grecian  with  the  Roman  world.  But  before  that  design 
could  be  executed  it  was  necessary  so  to  enlarge  and  enrich 
the  vernacular  as  to  make  it  capable  of  the  task  he  was  ' 
to  impose  upon  it.  A  philosophical  terminology  had  to 
be  constructed  before  the  new  literature  could  come  into 
being. 

Terence  and  Lucretius  had  cultivated  simplicity;  Cotta,  Brutus, 
and  Calvus  had  attempted  strength;  but  Cicero  rather  made  a 
language  than  a  style;  yet  not  so  much  by  the  invention  as  by 
the  combination  of  words.  Some  terms,  indeed,  his  philosophical 
subjects  obliged  him  to  coin.13 


13  Newman,  "Cicero,"  in  Historical  Sketches,  vol.  i,  p.  297. 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  447 

As  the  Greek  originals  on  which  his  philosophical 
works  were  based  have,  for  the  most  part,  been  lost,  it 
must  ever  remain  a  question  as  to  the  extent  to  which  he  Extent  to 
supplemented  the  old  materials  by  his  own  speculations,  ^^J^"15" 
As  the  genius  of  the  Greeks  broke  down  at  the  thresh-  old  materials, 
hold  of  law;  as  jurisprudence  is  a  Roman  creation,  legal 
science  a  Roman  invention,  it  is  certainly  reasonable  to 
assume  that  he  made  decided  advances  in  that  domain.  It 
is  still  more  certain  that  in  the  domain  of  speculative 
theology  he  advanced  far  beyond  Plato  in  the  definiteness 
of  his  conceptions  of  immortality  and  a  life  beyond  the 
grave,  not  by  reason  of  superior  mental  acumen,  but  be- 
cause he  was  armed,  as  Plato  could  not  be,  with  the  new 
and  magnificent  Stoic  notion  of  a  single  God,  as  the  source 
of  permanent,  uniform,  and  universal  law  of  which  he 
was  the  author,  interpreter,  and  enforcer — the  law 
known  as  the  law  of  nature.  In  that  way  pantheism  was 
wrecked  in  substance  if  not  in  form,  and  the  swarm  of 
little  gods  reduced  either  to  personifications  of  certain 
.  physical  forces  in  nature,  or  of  certain  moral  or  intel- 
,  lectual  qualities  in  man. 

L    A  deliberate  effort  has  been  made  to  demonstrate  that 
7 

Nthe  persistency  of  Cicero's  intellectual  influence  through   Hisinflu- 
1  the  centuries  has  depended  largely  upon  its  spiritual  and  e"ceo"the 
ethical   undertone   which    influenced    so    profoundly   the  the  early 
thought  of  the  early  Christian  church;  that  in  the  years  ISSt" 
immediately  preceding  and  following  the  advent  of  Chris- 
tianity the  works  of  the  brilliant  and  earnest  expounder 
of  Roman  stoicism  were  educating  the  peoples  of  the 
Mediterranean  basin  up  to  a  point  at  which  they  could 
listen  with  a  better  understanding  to  the  teachings  of  St. 
Paul. 

The  warm  embrace  naturally  given  to  Cicero  by  the 


448 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Cicero's 
works  in 
early  Chris- 
tian libraries. 


Cicero, 
Petrarch's 
literary  idol. 


"Not  a  pagan 
philosopher, 
but  a  Chris- 
tian apostle." 


early  Christian  Fathers  secured  for  his  works  a  prominent 
place  in  nearly  all  of  the  early  Christian  libraries.  In  the 
list  of  the  library  of  King  Ecgberht,  given  by  Alcuin 
the  librarian,  we  find  "Boethius,  Pliny,  Aristotle,  and 
Cicero";  in  the  library  of  St.  Requier  there  were  copies 
of  Homer,  Virgil,  and  Cicero;  the  abbot  Lupus  of  Ter- 
riers requests  a  friend  to  bring  him  the  Wars  of  Catiline 
and  of  Jugurtha,  by  Sallust,  and  the  Verrines  of  Cicero. 

His  work  on  rhetoric  (De  Inventione),  so  far  from 
being  devoured  by  the  moths,  was  the  very  first  chosen  for 
translation  into  Italian  prose.  It  appeared  in  the  vulgar 
idiom  in  1257,  the  translator  being  Galeotto,  the  pro- 
fessor of  grammar  in  the  university  of  Bologna.14  Long 
before  he  could  grasp  the  meaning  of  classical  Latin, 
Petrarch  used  to  read  the  prose  of  Cicero  aloud,  revelling 
in  the  sonorous  cadences  and  balanced  periods  of  the  mas- 
ter's style;  and  as  he  grew  older  he  did  his  utmost  to 
collect  the  manuscripts  of  Cicero,  journeying  and  sending 
to  remote  parts  of  Europe  or  wherever  he  heard  that  a 
fragment  of  his  favorite  author  was  to  be  found. 

So  completely  was  Cicero  Petrarch's  literary  idol  that 
when  strangers  crowded  around  him,  asking  him  what 
presents  they  could  send  him  from  distant  lands,  his 
invariable  reply  was :  "Nothing  but  the  works  of  Cicero." 
In  speaking  of  those  works  he  said:  "You  would  fancy 
sometimes  it  was  not  a  pagan  philosopher,  but  a  Chris- 
tian apostle,  who  was  speaking."  To  the  Italy  of 
Petrarch  we  must  look  for  the  cradle  of  the  Renaissance.  ( 
He  it  was  who  first  taught  his  countrymen  how  to  study 
the  Latin  masters  in  a  humanistic  spirit  in  an  age  when , 
art  was   triumphant  and  when   richness   of   decoration, 


14  Cf.  Augusta  T.  Drane,  Christian  Schools  and  Scholars,  pp.  84,  129,  ] 
148,  157. 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  449 

pomp  of  phrase,  and  rhetorical  fluency  was  apt  to  appeal 
to  the  inner  spirit  of  a  splendor-loving  people.     At  such 
a  moment  when  the  most  distinctive  feature  of  humanistic 
literature  was  the  creation  of  a  Latin  style,  the  supreme   Literary 
dictatorship  was  awarded  to  Virgil  in  verse,  and  to  Cicero    o^vir0"/"1' 

in   prose.  and  Cicero. 

The  Renaissance  found  exactly  what  it  wanted  in  the  manner 
of  the  most  obviously  eloquent  of  Latin  authors,  himself  a  rheto- 
rician  among   philosophers,    an   orator   among   statesmen 

Another  important  branch  of  literature,  modeled  upon  Ciceronian 
masterpieces,  was  letter-writing Petrarch,  after  discover- 
ing the  familiar  letters  of  the  Roman  orator,  first  gave  an  impulse 
to  that  kind  of  composition.15 

Something  more  than  a  century  after  Cicero's  death  a 
great  blast  of  praise  came  from  a  famous  rhetorician  emi- 
nently qualified  to  pass  upon  his  merits  as  an  orator. 
Quintilian's  great  model  was  Cicero,  despite  the  fact  that  Quintilian's 
the   reaction  against  the   Ciceronian   type   of   eloquence   ciceroas° 
which  had  begun  in  his  lifetime  had  acquired  decided  an  orator, 
strength  after  his  death.     Mommsen  says: 

The  Ciceronian  manner  ruled  no  doubt  throughout  a  genera-  Mommsen's 
tion  the  Roman  advocate-world,  just  as  the  far  worse  manner  view- 
of  Hortensius  had  done ;  but  the  most  considerable  men,  such  as 
•  Caesar,  kept  themselves  always  aloof  from  it,  and  among  the 
;  younger  generation  there  arose  in  all  men  of  fresh  and  living 
talent  the  most  decided  opposition  to  that  hybrid  and  feeble  rhet- 
oric. They  found  Cicero's  language  deficient  in  precision  and 
chasteness,  his  jests  deficient  in  liveliness,  his  arrangement  deficient 
in  clearness  and  articulate  division,  and  above'all  his  whole  elo- 
quence wanting  in  the  fire  which  makes  the  orator.16 

From  that  picture  let  us  turn  to  Quintilian's  compari- 
son between  Demosthenes  and  Cicero  so  long  regarded  as 
a  model  of  critical  acuteness  and  discrimination.    He  says : 

15  Symonds,  Renaissance  in  Italy,  vol.  ii,  p.  528.   See  also  p.  73. 
18  History  of  Rome,  Dickson's  trans.,  vol.  iv,  p.  727,  corresponding  to 
vol.  iii  of  the  original. 


45<> 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Comparison  Of   their  great  excellences  I  consider  that  most  are  similar; 

e  ween  their  method,  their  order  of  partition,  their  manner  of  preparing 

and  Cicero.  the  minds  of  their  audience,  their  mode  of  proof,  and,  in  a  word, 
everything  that  depends  on  invention.  In  their  style  of  speaking 
there  is  some  difference;  Demosthenes  is' more  compact,  Cicero 
more  verbose;  Demosthenes  argues  more  closely,  Cicero  has  a 
wider  sweep;  Demosthenes  always  attacks  with  a  sharp-pointed 
weapon,  Cicero  often  with  a  weapon  both  sharp  and  weighty; 
from  Demosthenes  nothing  can  be  taken  away,  to  Cicero  nothing 
can  be  added ;  in  one  there  is  more  study,  in  the  other  more  nature. 
In  art,  certainly,  and  pathos,  two  stimulants  of  the  mind  which 
have  great  influence  in  oratory,  we  have  the  advantages.17  .... 
We  must  yield  the  superiority,  however,  on  one  point,  that  De- 
mosthenes lived  before  Cicero,  and  made  him,  in  a  great  measure, 
the  able  orator  that  he  was;  for  Cicero  appears  to  me,  after  he 
devoted  himself  wholly  to  imitate  the  Greeks,  to  have  embodied 
in  his  style  the  energy  of  Demosthenes,  the  copiousness  of  Plato, 
and  the  sweetness  of  Isocrates.18 

It  is  certain  that  when  the  foremost  of  Roman  orators 
arose  to  speak  before  a  popular  assembly  the  personal 
power  he  was  able  to  wield  was  enormous;  and  it  was,  noi 
doubt,  that  sense  of  marvellous  power  over  the  crowds 
he  held  spellbound  that  excited  in  him  the  resolve  to  be 
come  the  Demosthenes  of  the  Italian  democracy. 

As  the  great  stone  of  Cicero's  fame  as  advocate,  states- 
man, and  philosopher  has  rolled  on  from  the  past  to  the 
present  it  has  crushed  more  than  one  opposing  pebble  in 
its  path.  The  first  conspicuous  opponent  who  lifted  hi 
DioCassius.  head  was  Dio  Cassius  (155-229  A.D.),  born  somethin 
more  than  a  century  after  Quintilian,  an  official  historia; 


17  Quintilian  maintains  that  there  are  three  literary  forms  in  which  the 
Romans  can  bear  comparison  with  the  Greeks:  "Satira  tota  nostra  est  .  . 
elegia  Graecos  provocamus  ....  non  historia  cesserit  Graecis"  (x,  i, 
94,  101). 

lsInst.  orat.,-x.,  i,  105.  Tacitus  (Dialogus,  25)  says:  "Adstrictior  Cat 
vus,  numerosior  Asinius,  splendidior  Caesar,  amarior  Caelius,  gravio: 
Brutus,  vehementior  et  plenior  et  valentior  Cicero." 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO 


45 1 


of  the  Empire,  exact  and  minute,  but  without  political 
capacity,  and  with  a  narrow  mind  full  of  ridiculous  super- 
stitions, a  characteristic  which  he  often  attributes  to  his 
historical  personages. 

This  dull  and  courtly  annalist,  who  had  inherited  the 
traditions  of  Cicero's  enemies,  was  simply  consumed  with 
a  morbid  hatred  of  the  last  and  noblest  champion  of 
Roman  freedom.  His  malice  is  robbed,  however,  of  much 
of  its  sting  by  the  ridiculous  inaccuracy  and  the  bungling 
voluminousness  with  which  it  is  expressed,  as,  for  instance, 
in  the  twenty-eight  chapters19  occupied  by  the  speech 
put  into  the  mouth  of  Fufius  Calenus,  designed  as  a  sweep- 
ing attack  upon  the  career  and  character  of  Cicero,  and, 
no  doubt,  as  a  counterblast  to  the  Second  Philippic.  The 
following  extracts  illustrate  its  temper: 

Is  not  he  the  one  who  killed  Clodius  by  the  hand  of  Milo,  and 
slew  Caesar  by  the  hand  of  Brutus?  The  one  who  made  Catiline 
hostile  to  us  and  despatched  Lentulus  without  a  trial  ?  .  .  .  .  Who 
is  unaware  that  you  put  away  your  first  wife  who  had  borne  you 
two  children,  and  at  an  advanced  age  married  another,  a  mere 
girl,  in  order  that  you  might  pay  your  debts  out  of  her  property? 
And  you  did  not  even  retain  her,  to  the  end  that  you  might  keep 
Caerellia20  fearlessly,  whom  you  debauched  when  she  was  as 
much  older  than  yourself  as  the  maiden  you  married  was  younger, 
and  to  whom  you  write  such  letters  as  a  jester  at  no  loss  for  words 
would  write  if  he  were  trying  to  get  up  an  amour  with  a  woman 
seventy  years  old. 


An  official 
historian 
consumed 
with  hatred 
of  Cicero. 


Speech  put 
into  mouth 
of  Calenus. 


19  Bk.  xlvi,  1-28.   In  the  excellent  translation  of  Dio's  Rome  by  Herbert 
I    Baldwin  Foster   (Troy,  N.  Y.,  1905),  the  speech  in  question  occupies  pp. 

49-74  of  vol.  iii. 

20  A  learned  lady  and  a  great  admirer,  who,  apart  from  loaning  Cicero 
money,  devoured  his  philosophical  works.  She  had  a  special  copy  of 
De  Finibus  made  for  herself,  even  before  Atticus  was  ready  for  publication 
1  {Ad  Alt.,  xiii,  21).  She  struggled  in  vain  to  induce  Cicero  to  take  back 
Publilia  {Ad  Att.,  xiv,  19).  Sihler  (p.  368)  has  well  said:  "The  scandalous 
and  silly  insinuations  made  by  Antony  and  his  adherents  (Dio,  46,  184) 
may  be  thrown  into  the  waste-basket  of  history  without  much  ado." 


malevolence 
of  Drumann. 


452  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Nothing  could  be  more  palpable  than  the   fact  that 

Animus  Appian  and  Dio,  Greek  historians  of  the  second  and  third 

andDio"1       centuries,  who  were  bound  by  every  interest,  taste,  and 

prejudice  to  the  new  imperial  system,  were  more  than 

willing  to  revile  and  misrepresent  those  who  had  been 

the  most  conspicuous  exponents  of  the  fallen  Republic. 

After  the  lapse  of  many  centuries  the  evil  spirit  of  Dio, 
so  redolent  of  jibes  and  sneers  for  the  enemies  of  mon- 
archy, entered  into  the  minds  of  two  modern  historians 
whose  assaults  upon  the  fame  of  Cicero  are  only  worthy 
of  notice  by  reason  of  the  world-fame  of  one  of  them.  If 
it  were  not  for  what  Mommsen  said  in  1856,  in  the  third 
volume  of  his  History  of  Rome,  no  one  would  now  take 
Labored  the  trouble  to  recall  the  labored  malevolence  that  inspired 

Drumann,  who  undertook,  in  1834,21  with  a  minuteness 
and  dullness  worthy  of  Dio,  and  with  the  inquisitorial 
spirit  of  a  prosecuting  attorney,  to  formulate  charges 
against  the  career  and  character  of  Cicero  based  upon 
the  assumption  that  he  was  never  animated  by  a  single  i 
high-minded  or  disinterested  motive  in  the  entire  course 
of  his  life.22     In  the  words  of  E.  Hiibner: 

In  nearly  thirteen  hundred  closely  printed  pages  Drumann  has 
....  subjected  Cicero's  life,  acts,  and  words  to  a  trial  which, 
in  inquisitorial  harshness,  finical  casuistry,  brutal  inconsiderate- 
ness,  may  be  recommended  to  every  district  attorney  as  a  warning 
example.23 

Motive  For  the  motive  of  such  an  attack  we  have  only  to  look 

to  Drumann's  preface  in  order  to  learn  — 

21 W.  Drumann,  Gesch.  Roms  in  seinem  Uebergange,  etc.  1834  sqq., 
vol.  v  (1841),  from  pp.  216-716,  and  vol.  vi  (1844),  pp.  1-685,  "so  wenig 
er  sich  sonst  scheut,  Zweideutigkeiten  und  Schwachen,  ja  offenbare  Falsch- 
heiten  auf  Ciceros  Andenken  zu  walzen"  (C.  F.  Hermann).  Cf.  Gard- 
thausen,  Augustus,  vol.  i,  p.  77.     Sihler,  p.  471. 

22  He  does,  however,  acquit  him  absolutely  of  all  charges  involving; 
licentiousness. 

23  "Cicero,"  Deutsche  Rundschau,  p.  10. 


of  the  attack. 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  453 

....  his  personal  point  of  view  in  a  way  which  would  seem  to  be 
incredible,  had  not  the  Konigsberg  professor  uttered  it  himself: 
"Roman  history  proves  that  republican  forms  of  government  are 
not  permanently  suited  to  mankind  such  as  it  is"  (p.  iv).  He 
believed  that  the  "haven  of  monarchy"  is  the  normal  finality  of 
perfect  political  development:  "Not  against  my  will,  but  without 
the  same,  my  work  is  a  eulogy  of  monarchy,"  etc.  (p.  viii).  So 
far  as  Cicero  is  concerned,  no  matter  how  minute  the  detail  or 
how  petty  the  circumstance,  Drumann,  like  a  retained  barrister, 
strives  to  present  him  in  an  odious  light.  He  is  thoroughly 
partisan,  thoroughly  unfair,  and  biased  to  the  point  of  per- 
version—  actually  going  so  far  as  to  compare  Cicero  to  Robe- 
spierre.24 

In  order  to  make  his  eulogy  of  monarchy  more  im- 
pressive, he  undertakes  to  hold  up  to  the  contempt  of 
mankind  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  famous  of  all 
republicans.  An  utter  lack  of  the  sense  of  humor  did 
much,  however,  to  render  his  performance  grotesque.  The 
ponderous  erudition  that  enabled  this  inflexible  theorist  to 
give  line  and  verse  for  all  he  was  pleased  to  call  facts 
was  never  able  to  arouse  in  him  the  scruples  of  Dickens' 
toymaker  who  said  that,  as  a  builder  of  Noah's  arks,  it 
did  hurt  his  conscience  to  make  'the  flies  and  the  ele- 
phants all  the  same  size." 

The  minute  and  malevolent  details  thus  expanded  by 
Drumann,  without  vivacity  and  without  perspective,  into 
a  volume  would  never  have  impressed  the  world  if  they 
had  not  been  so  condensed  and  restated  by  Mommsen  as  Mommsen's 
to  convert  the  picture  in  which  "the  audacious  figure  of  restatement- 
the  old  orator  stands  out  amidst  the  universal  vacillation 
like  a  huge  erratic  boulder  in  the  midst  of  a  plain,"  into 
a  caricature  in  which  we  see  only  a  short-sighted  poli- 
tician, a  swaggering  egotist,  a  special-pleader,  a  weak- 

24  Sihler,  Cicero's  Second  Philippic,  p.  xxxiii. 


454 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


A  typical 
extract. 


Influence  of 

Caesar 

worship. 


minded  sophist  and   rhetorician  beneath   our  contempt. 
To  employ  Mommsen's  own  words : 

As  a  statesman  without  insight,  opinion,  or  purpose,  he  figured 
successively  as  democrat,  as  aristocrat,  and  as  a  tool  of  the  mon- 
archs,  and  was  never  more  than  a  short-sighted  egotist.  Where 
he  exhibited  the  appearance  of  action,  the  questions  to  which  his 
action  applied  had,  as  a  rule,  just  reached  their  solution;  thus 
he  came  forward  in  the  trial  of  Verres  against  the  senatorial 
judicia  when  they  were  already  set  aside;  thus  he  was  silent  in 
the  discussion  on  the  Gabinian  and  acted  as  a  champion  of  the 
Manilian  law;  thus  he  thundered  against  Catiline  when  his 
departure  was  already  settled.25 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  same  spirit  of  hatred 
against  the  immortal  republican  which  envenomed  Dio 
and  Drumann  inspired  Mommsen's  flagrant  misrepre- 
sentations even  of  familiar  facts;  he  was  equally  eager 
to  assist  in  the  degradation  of  Cicero  because  Caesar 
worship  required  it.26  He  was  even  willing  to  go  so  far  j 
in  Caesar's  cause  as  to  denounce  Pompey  as  a  drill-ser- 
geant and  Cato  as  a  semi-lunatic.  An  acute  critic  spoke 
the  truth  of  him  when  he  said: 

Here  we  perceive  the  same  pen  that  has  just  written  down 
Cato  a  Don  Quixote  and  Pompey  a  corporal.  As  in  his  studies 
of  the  past  he  always  has  the  present  in  mind,  one  would  say  that 
he  looks  for  the  squireens  of  Prussia  in  the  Roman  aristocracy, 
and  that  in  Caesar  he  salutes  in  advance  that  popular  despot,  whose 
firm  hand  can  alone  give  unity  to  Germany.27 

The  injury  has  been  only  to  his  own  reputation.    When 

^History  of  Rome,  vol.  iv,  pp.  724-25  of  Dickson's  translation,  corre- 
sponding with  vol.  iii  of  the  original. 

26  "I  have  already  protested  against  the  outrage  which  Mommsen  has 
committed  on  the  fair  fame  of  Cicero.  Like  Marina  in  Pericles,  Prince  of 
Tyre,  I  have  spoken  holy  words  to  the  Lord  Lysimachus — I  have  endeav- 
ored to  vindicate  by  arguments  the  character  of  one  whom  I  regard  as  a 
great  and  good  man."  —  Tyrrell,  Cicero  in  His  Letters,  pp.  xv-xvi. 

27  Boisser,  Cicero  and  His  Friends,  p.  23,  Jones'  trans. 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  CICERO  455 

Mommsen,  animated  by  a  political  rather  than  a  literary 
motive,  dashed  himself  against  the  adamant  of  Cicero's 
fame,  he  suffered  just  as  Sir  Walter  Scott  suffered  when, 
animated  by  a  like  motive,  he  dashed  himself  against  the 
fame  of  Napoleon.  The  effect  of  the  assault  of  Mommsen   Effect  of 
upon  the  political  character  of  Cicero  is  already  a  thing   assauitSan 
of  the  past.    The  moral  and  political  epigrams  of  his  first   thing  of  the 
work,  written  when  he  was  only  thirty-seven,  never  ac- 
cepted by  Merivale,   Freeman,   Ritschl,   L.   von  Ranke, 
and  Ludwig  Lange,  have  been  rejected,   generally  with 
great   emphasis,    by   such   high   authorities    as   Boissier, 
Zielinski,  Max  Schneidewin,  Weissenfels,  O.  E.  Schmidt, 
Herzog,    Gardthausen,    Forsyth,    Tyrrell,    and   Sihler.28 

28  Abeken  {Cicero  in  seinen  Brief  en,  Hannover,  1835)  has  treated  Cicero 
fairly  and  humanely.  In  awarding  praise  and  blame  he  has  tried  to  act  as 
a  just  and  discriminating  judge. 


-  ----iSJj&^feiigaL-' 


Tomb  of  Cicero 


Cicero.    Uffizi  Gallery. 


THE  SAYINGS  OF  CICERO 

COLLECTED   AND   ARRANGED    FOR   THE 
FIRST  TIME  AS  AN 


By  Hannis  Taylor 

and 

Mary  Lillie  Taylor  Hunt 


Roma    parenteral, 
Roma  patrem  patriae  Ciceronem  libera  dixit. 

— Juvenal,  Satires,  viii,  243. 

Rome,  free  Rome,  hailed  him  with  loud  acclaim, 
The  father  of  his  country — glorious  name. 

— GlFFORD. 


Salve  primus  omnium  parens  patriae  appellate. 

— Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  vii,  xxxi,  30. 

Hail  thou,  who  first  among  men  was  called  the  father  of  your  country. 


Et  Cicero  his,  ut  opinor,  verbis  refert,  quidquid  in  eloquentia  effecerit, 
id  se  non  rhetorum  officinis,  sed  Academiae  spatiis  consecutum. 

— Tacitus,  De  Orat.,  xxxii. 

Our  own  Cicero  tells  us  too — I  think  in  so  many  words — that  anything 
he  accomplished  as  an  orator  he  owed  not  to  the  workshops  of  the  rhetori- 
cians,  but   to  the   spacious   precincts   of  the   Academy. 


Disertlssime  Romuli  nepotum, 

Quot  sunt  quotque  fuere,  Marce  Tulli, 

Quotque  post  aliis  erunt  in  annis; 

Gratias  tibi  maximas  Catullus 

Agit,  pessimus  omnium  poeta, 

Tanto  pessimus  omnium  poeta 

Quanto  tu  optimus  omnium  patronus. 

— Catullus,  xlhc 


Tullius,  of  all  the  sons  of  royal  Rome 
That  are,  or  have  been,  or  are  yet  to  come, 
Most  skilled  to  plead,  most  learned  in  debate — 
Catullus  hails  thee,  small  as  thou  art  great. 
Take  thou  from  him  his  thanks,  his  fond  regards, 
The  first  of  patrons  from  the  least  of  bards. 

-J.E. 


THE  SAYINGS  OF  CICERO 


ACADEMICA 


Habeo  opus  magnum  in  manibus.    I,  i.  Academha. 

I  have  a  great  work  in  hand. 

Doloris  medicinam  a  philosophia  peto.    I,  3. 
I  look  to  philosophy  to  provide  an  antidote  to  sorrow. 

Ob  earn  rem,  se  arbitrari,  ab  Apolline  omnium  sapien- 
tissimum  esse  dictum,  quod  haec  esset  una  omnis  sapientia, 
non  arbitrari,  sese  scire,  quod  nesciat.    1,  4. 

For  this  cause  he  imagined  that  Socrates  was  called  the  wisest 
of  men  by  Apollo,  because  all  wisdom  consists  in  this,  not  to  think 
that  we  know  what  we  do  not  know. 

Non  sus  Minervam,  ut  ajunt.    I,  4. 

The  sow  should  not  teach  Minerva,  according  to  the  proverb. 

Quam  vim  animum  esse  dicunt  mundi,  eandemque  esse 
mentem,  sapientiamque  perfectam,  quern  deum  appellant. 

1,7. 

This  force  they  call  the  soul  of  the  world,  and,  looking  on  it 
as  perfect  in  intelligence  and  wisdom,  they  call  it  their  God. 

Percontando  a  peritis.    II,  1. 

Constantly  asking  questions  of  experts. 

Meo  judicio  est  maxima  in  sensibus  Veritas,  si  et  sani 
sunt,  et  valentes,  et  omnia  removentur,  quae  obstant,  et 
impediunt.    II,  7. 

In  my  opinion  there  is  the  greatest  truth  in  the  senses,  if  they 
are  sound  and  strong,  and  if  all  things  are  removed  which  oppose 
and  impede  them. 

459 


460  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Academica.     Multa  vident  pictores  in  umbris  et  in  eminentia,  quae 
nos  non  videmus.    n,  7. 

Painters  see  many  things  in  shadows  and  in  projections  which 
we  do  not  see. 

Oculi  pictura  tenentur,  aures  cantibus.    11,  7. 

The  eyes  are  charmed  by  paintings,  the  ears  by  music. 

Ratio  est  quasi  quaedam  lux,  lumenque  vitae.     II,  8. 

Reason  is  as  it  were  a  light  to  lighten  our  steps  and  guide  us 
through  the  journey  of  life. 

Naturam  accusa,  quae  in  profundo  veritatem,  ut 
ait  Democritus,  penitus  abstruserit.     II,  10. 

Accuse  nature,  who  has  completely  hid,  as  Democritus  says, 
truth  in  the  bottom  of  a  well. 

Nihil  est  veritatis  luce  dulcius.     II,  10. 

Nothing  is  more  delightful  than  the  light  of  truth. 

Videsne,  ut  in  proverbio  sit  ovorum  inter  se  similitudo? 
II,  18. 

Like  as  two  eggs,  according  to  the  proverb. 

Ita  enim  finitima  sunt  falsa  veris  ut  in  praecipitem 
locum  non  debeat  se  sapiens  committere.    II,  21. 

So  close  does  falsehood  approach  to  truth,  that  the  wise  man 
would  do  well  not  to  trust  himself  on  the  narrow  ledge. 

Quid  enim  potest,  cum  existimet  a  deo  se  curari,  non  et; 
dies  et  noctes  divinum  numen  horrere?    11,  38. 

Who  is  there,  when  he  thinks  a  god   is  taking  care  of  him, 
shall  not  live  day  and  night  in  awe  of  his  divine  majesty? 

Est  enim  animorum,  ingeniorumque  naturale  quoddam 
quasi  pabulum,  consideratio,  contemplatioque  naturae: 
erigimur;  latiores  fieri  videmur;  humana  despicimus: 
cogitantesque   supera,    atque   coelestia,    haec   nostra,   ul 


AD  ATT1CUM 


461 


exigua,  et  minima,  contemnimus,  indagatio  ipsa  rerum  turn  Academka. 
maximarum,  turn  etiam  occultissimarum,  habet  oblecta- 
tionem.    II,  41. 

When  we  are  contemplating  and  pondering  on  the  works  of 
nature,  we  are  supplying,  as  it  were,  its  natural  food  to  the  mind; 
our  thoughts  assume  a  loftier  character,  and  we  learn  to  look 
down  on  what  is  human ;  while  we  meditate  on  the  vault  of  heaven 
above,  our  own  affairs  appear  petty  and  contemptible;  our  mind 
derives  delight  from  what  is  so  sublime  and  inscrutable. 

Nam  quae  voluptate,  quasi  mercede  aliqua,  ad  officium 
impellitur,  ea  non  est  virtus,  sed  fallax  imitatio,  simula- 
tioque  virtutis.    II,  46. 

It  is  not  virtue,  but  a  deceptive  copy  and  imitation  of  virtue, 
when  we  are  led  to  the  performance  of  duty  by  pleasure  as  its 
recompense. 


AD  ATTICUM 


Homo  sine  fuco  et  fallaciis.    I,  I. 
A  man  without  guile  and  deceit. 


Ad  Atticum. 


Ilia  concionalis  hirudo  aerarii,  misera  ac  jejuna  plebecula. 
I,  16. 

The  hungry  and  wretched  proletarians,  those  city  leeches  that 
suck  dry  the  public  treasury. 

In  eo  neque  auctoritate  neque  gratia  pugnat,  sed  qui- 
bus  Philippus  omnia  castella  expugnari  posse  dicebat,  in 
quae  modo  asellus  onustus  auro  posset  ascendere.  I,  16. 
His  weapons  are  neither  authority  nor  popularity,  but  rather 
those  referred  to  in  the  saying  of  Philip  of  Macedon,  that  no  city 
was  impregnable  so  long  as  it  could  be  entered  by  an  ass  laden  with 
gold. 


Bellum  est  enim  sua  nitia  nosse.    II,  17. 
It  is  a  great  thing  to  know  our  own  vices. 


462  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

AdAtticum.    Sermo  in  circulis  et  conviviis  est  liberior.    11,  18. 

Conversation  in  private  meetings  and  dinner  parties  is  more 
unreserved. 

Ubi  nihil  erit  quod  scribas  id  ipsum  scribito.    IV,  8. 
Even  if  you  have  nothing  to  write,  write  and  say  so. 

Odi  hominem  et  odero;  utinam  ulcisci  possem !    Sed  ilium 
ulciscentur  mores  sui.    IV,  12. 

I  hate,  and  shall  continue  to  hate,  the  man;  would  that  I  could 
take  vengeance  on  him !  But  his  own  shameless  manners  will  be 
a  sufficient  punishment. 

Clitellae  bovi  sunt  impositae.    v,  15. 
The  pack-saddle  has  been  put  on  the  ox. 

Ubi  est  autem  dignitas,  nisi  ubi  honestas?    vn,  11. 
Where  shall  we  find  dignity  without  honesty? 

Tanta  malorum  impendet  'IAias.    vhi,  11. 

We  are  threatened  with  a  whole  Iliad  of  misfortunes. 

Semper  me  causae  eventorum  magis  movent,  quam  ipsa 
eventa.     IX,  5. 

The  causes  of  events  always  excite  me  more  than  the  events 
themselves. 

Acta  ne  agamus;  reliqua  paremus.    ix,  6. 

Let  us  not  go  over  the  old  ground,  but  rather  prepaie  for 
what  is  to  come. 

Aegroto,  dum  anima  est,  spes  est.    IX,  10. 
While  there  is  life,  there  is  hope. 

Omne  consilium  Themistocleum  est:   existimat  enim,  qui 
mare  teneat,  eum  necesse  rerum  potiri.    x,  8. 

His  plan  is  evidently  that  of  Themistocles,  for  he  thinks  that 
he  who  gains  the  command  of  the  sea  must  obtain  supreme  power. 


AD  FAMILIARES  463 

In  omni  vita  sua  quemque  a  recta  conscientia  traversum  AdAtticum. 
unguem  non  oportet  discedere.    xm,  20. 

During  the  whole  of  our  life  we  ought  not  to  depart  a  nail's 
breadth  from  a  pure  conscience. 

Lupus  in  fabula.    xm,  33. 
The  wolf  in  the  fable. 

Nemo  unquam  neque  poeta  neque  orator  fuit,  qui  quem- 
quam  meliorem  quam  se  arbitraretur.    xiv,  20. 

There  has  never  yet  been  either  a  poet  or  an  orator  who  did 
not  consider  himself  the  greatest  in  the  world. 

Aliquid  crastinus  dies  ad  cogitandum  dabit.    xv,  8. 
Tomorrow  will  give  something  as  food  for  thought. 

Nemo  doctus  unquam  ....  mutationem  consilii  incon- 
stantiam  dixit  esse,    xvi,  7. 

No  wise  man  has  ever  said  that  change  of  plan  is  inconstancy. 


AD  CORNELIUM  NEPOTEM 

Felicitas    est    fortuna,    adjutrix    consiliorum    bonorum;   Ad 
quibus  qui  non  utitur,  felix  esse  nullo  pacto  potest.     Frag-  Cornelium 
ment  IV.  Nepotem. 

Success  consists  in  good  fortune,  allied  to  good  design;  if  the 
latter  be  wanting,  success  is  altogether  impossible. 


AD  FAMILIARES 

Via  juris  ejusmodi  est  quibusdam  in  rebus,  ut  nihil  sit  loci  Ad 

gratiae.      I,  2.  Familiares. 

The  path  of  law  is  of  such  a  kind  in  some  things  that  there  is 
no  room  for  favor. 

Cum  dignitate  otium.    I,  9.    . 
Ease  with  dignity. 


464  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Ad  Non    idem    semper    dicere,    sed    idem    semper    spectare 

Familiar es.       debemus.     I,  9. 

We  are  not  bound  always  to  hold  the  same  language,  but  we 
are  bound  to  be  constant  in  our  aims. 

Epistolarum  genera  multa  esse  non  ignoras:  sed  unum 
illud  certissimum,  cujus  causa  inventa  res  ipsa  est,  ut 
certiores  faceremus  absentes,  si  quid  esset,  quod  eos  scire, 
aut  nostra,  aut  ipsorum  interesset.    II,  4. 

You  are  aware  that  there  are  many  kinds  of  epistolary  corre- 
spondence, but  that  alone  is  the  most  assured,  for  the  sake  of  which 
it  was  invented  —  namely,  to  inform  the  absent,  if  there  be  any- 
thing which  it  is  of  importance  that  they  should  know,  either  about 
our  affairs  or  their  own. 

Grave  est  enim  homini  pudenti,  petere  aliquid  magnum 
ab  eo,  de  quo  se  bene  meritum  putet:  ne  id,  quod  petat, 
exigere  magis,  quam  rogare;  et  in  mercedis  potius,  quam 

beneficii   loco   numerare   videatur Est  animi   in- 

genui,  cui  multum  debeas,  eidem  plurimum  velle  debere. 
11,  6. 

It  is  annoying  to  a  modest  man  to  ask  anything  of  value  from 
one  on  whom  he  thinks  that  he  has  conferred  a  favor,  lest  he 
should  seem  to  demand  as  a  right  rather  than  ask  as  a  favor: 
and  should  appear  to  account  it  as  a  remuneration  rather  than  a 
kindness.  It  is  the  feeling  of  a  noble  and  liberal  mind  to  be  will- 
ing to  owe  much  to  the  man  to  whom  you  already  owe  much. 

Nemo  est  qui  tibi  sapientius  suadere  possit  te  ipso :  num- 
quam  labere,  si  te  audies.    11,  7. 

Nobody  can  give  you  wiser  advice  than  yourself ;  you  will  never 
err  if  you  listen  to  your  own  suggestions. 

Nihil  est,  quod  studio  et  benevolentia,  vel  amore  potius, 
effici  non  possit.    Ill,  9. 

There  is  nothing  which  cannot  be  accomplished  by  affection  I 
and  kindliness,  or  perhaps,  I  should  say,  by  love. 

Quod  exemplo  fit,  id  etiam  jure  fieri  putant.    IV,  3. 

Men  think  that  they  may  justly  do  that  for  which  they  have  a 
precedent. 


AD  FAMILIARES  465 

Victoriae  quae  civilibus  bellis  semper  est  insolens.     IV,  4.   Ad 

Spirit  of  insolence,  which  victory  in  all  civil  wars  never  fails  to  Familiares. 
inspire. 

Nullus  dolor  est,  quem  non  longinquitas  temporis  minuat, 
ac  molliat.    IV,  5. 

There  is  no  grief  which  time  does  not  lessen  and  soften. 

Neque  imitare  malos  medicos,  qui  in  alienis  morbis  pro- 
fitentur  tenere  se  medicinae  scientiam,  ipsi  se  curare  non 
possunt    IV,  5. 

Do  not  imitate  those  unskilful  empirics,  who  pretend  to  cure 
other  men's  disorders,  but  are  unable  to  find  a  remedy  for  their 
own. 

Nos  homunculi  indignamur,  si  quis  nostrum  interiit  aut 
occisus  est,  quorum  vita  brevior  esse  debet,  quum 

Uno  loco  tot  oppidum  cadavera 

Projecta  jacent? 

IV,  5. 
What  right  have  we  mannikins  to  be  indignant  at  the  death  of 
one  among  us,  either  in  his  bed  or  on  the  battlefield,  we  whose 
life  should  of  right  be  shorter,  when 

The  corpses  of  full  many  a  town 

Lie  prostrate  on  one  site? 

Nullus  est  locus  domestica  sede  jucundior.    IV,  8. 
There  is  no  place  so  delightful  as  one's  own  fireside. 

Tempori  cedere,  id  est  necessitati  parere,  semper  sapientis 
est  habitum.    IV,  9. 

To  yield  to  the  times,  that  is,  to  obey  necessity,  has  always  been 
regarded  as  the  act  of  a  wise  man. 

Omnia  sunt  misera  in  bellis  civilibus  ....  sed  miserius 
nihil,  quam  ipsa  victoria :  quae  etiamsi  ad  meliores  venit, 
tamen  eos  ipsos  ferociores,  impotentioresque  reddit:  ut, 
etiamsi  natura  tales  non  sint,  necessitate  esse  cogantur; 
multa  enim  victori  eorum  arbitrio,  per  quos  vicit,  etiam 
invito,  facienda  sunt.    IV,  9. 

All  civil  wars  are  full  of  numberless  calamities,  but  victory 
itself  is  more  to  be  dreaded  than  anything  else.     For  though  it 


466  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  GF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Ad  should  decide  itself  on  the  side  of  the  more  deserving,  yet  it  will  be 

Familiares.  apt  to  inspire  even  those  with  a  spirit  of  insolence  and  cruelty,  and 
though  they  be  not  so  by  inclination,  they  at  least  will  be  so  by 
necessity.  For  the  conqueror  must,  in  many  instances,  find  himself 
obliged  to  submit  to  the  pressure  of  those  who  have  assisted  him  in 
his  conquest. 

Nunc  vero  nee  locus  tibi  ullus  dulcior  esse  debet  patria; 
nee  earn  diligere  minus  debes,  quod  deformior  est,  sed 
misereri  potius.     IV,  9. 

No  place  should  now  be  sweeter  to  you  than  your  fatherland, 
nor  should  you  love  it  less,  but  rather  pity  it  more,  because  of  its 
deformities. 

Qui  semel  verecundiae  fines  transierit,  eum  bene  et  naviter 
oportet  esse  impudentem.    v,  12. 

When  once  a  man  has  overstepped  the  bounds  of  modesty  he 
may  as  well  become  thoroughly  and  frankly  shameless. 

Nihil  est  enim  aptius  ad  delectationem  lectoris,  quam  tem- 
porum  varietates,  fortunaeque  vicissitudines:  quae  etsi 
nobis  optabiles  in  experiendo  non  fuerunt,  in  legendo 
tamen  erunt  jucundae.  Habet  enim  praeteriti  doloris 
secura  recordatio  delectationem.    v,  12. 

There  is  nothing  better  calculated  to  delight  your  reader  than 
the  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  and  the  changes  which   time  brings  ! 
with  it :  though,  while  we  experienced  them,  they  have  seemed 
perhaps  undesirable,  yet  we  shall  find  pleasure  in  reading  of  them.  I 
It  is  delightful  when  in  smooth  water  to  recall  the  stormy  times 
that  are  past. 

Laudem  sapientiae  statuo  esse  maximam,  non  aliunde 
pendere,  nee  extrinsecus  aut  bene  aut  male  vivendi  suspen- 
sas  habere  rationes.     v,  13. 

I  regard  the  greatest  praise  of  wisdom  to  be,  that  man  should: 
be  self-dependent,  and  to  have  no  doubts  as  to  the  proper  method 
of  living  well  or  ill. 

Saepissime  et  legi  et  audivi  nihil  mali  esse  in  morte;  in 
qua  si  resideat  sensus,  immortalitas  ilia  potius  quam  mors 
ducenda  sit;  sin  sit  amissus,  nulla  videri  miseria  debeal 
quae  non  sentiatur.     v,  16. 


AD  FAMIL1ARES  467 

I  have  often  read  and  heard  that  there  is  nothing  evil  in  death ;   Ad 
for,  if  there  is  a  survival  of  consciousness,  it  must  be  considered   Familiares. 
immortality  rather  than  death ;  while,  if  consciousness  is  destroyed, 
that    can    hardly    be    reckoned    unhappiness,    of    which    we    are 
unconscious. 

Plus  tibi  virtus  tua  dedit  quam  fortuna  abstulit.    V,  18. 

Your  virtue  has  given  you  more  than  fortune  has  taken  from 
you. 

Simus  ea  mente,  quam  ratio,  et  virtus  praescribit,  ut  nihil 
in  vita  nobis  praestandum  praeter  culpam,  putemus:  eaque 
cum  careamus,  omnia  humana  placate  et  moderate  fera- 
mus.    VI,  1. 

Let  us  be  of  that  opinion,  which  reason  and  virtue  dictate,  that 
we  have  nothing  to  guard  against  in  life  except  crime;  and  when 
we  are  free  from  that,  we  may  endure  everything  else  with  patience 
and  moderation. 

Suae  quemque  fortunae  maxime  poenitet.    VI,  1. 
Every  man  is  dissatisfied  with  his  own  fortune. 

Misera  est  ilia  enim  consolatio,  tali  praesertim  civi  et 
viro,  sed  tamen  necessaria,  nihil  esse  praecipue  cuiquam 
dolendum  in  eo,  quod  accidit  universis.     VI,  2. 

'Tis  a  feeble  consolation,  especially  to  such  a  man  and  such  a 
citizen,  yet  an  inevitable  one,  that  there  is  nothing  specially  deplor- 
able in  any  individual  having  to  meet  the  fate  which  is  common 
to  all  mankind. 

Levis  est  consolatio  ex  miseria  aliorum.    VI,  3. 
The  comfort  derived  from  the  misery  of  others  is  slight. 

Conscientia  rectae  voluntatis  maxima  consolatio  est  rerum 
incommodarum :  nee  est  ullum  magnum  malum,  praeter 
culpam.    VI,  4. 

It  is,  indeed,  the  greatest  consolation  under  adversity,  to  be  con- 
scious of  having  always  meant  well,  and  to  be  persuaded  that 
nothing  but  guilt  deserves  to  be  considered  as  a  severe  evil. 

Levat  enim  dolorem  communis  quasi  legis,  et  humanae 
conditionis  recordatio.     VI,  6. 


468  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Ad  For  to  reflect  on  the  misfortunes  to  which  mankind  in  general 

Familiares.      are  exposed,  greatly  contributes  to  alleviate  the  weight  of  those 
which  we  ourselves  endure. 

Vacare  culpa  magnum  est  solatium.    VII,  3. 
To  be  free  from  faults  is  a  great  comfort. 

Rideamus  yikwra  SapSo'viov.     vil,  25. 
Let  us  laugh  a  Sardonic  laugh. 

Nihil  est,  mihi  crede,  virtute  formosius,  nihil  pulchrius, 
nihil  amabilius.    IX,  14. 

Nothing,  believe  me,  is  more  beautiful  than  virtue;  nothing 
more  fair,  nothing  more  lovely. 

Non  facile  dijudicatur  amor  verus,  et  fictus,  nisi  aliquod 
incidat  ejusmodi  tempus,  ut,  quasi  aurum  igni,  sic  benevo- 
lentia  fidelis  periculo  aliquo  perspici  possit:  caetera  sunt 
signa  communia.    IX,  16. 

A  pretended  affection  is  not  easily  distinguished  from  a  real 
one,  unless  in  seasons  of  distress.     For  adversity  is  to  friendship 
what  fire  is  to  gold  —  the  only  infallible  test  to  discover  the  genu-  ; 
ine  from  the  counterfeit.     In  all  other  cases  they  both  have  the 
same  common  marks. 

Tu,  pro  tua  sapientia,  debebis  optare  optima,  cogitare 
difficillima,  ferre  quaecunque  erunt.    IX,  17. 

You,  with  your  wisdom,  should  aspire  to  what  is  noblest,  medi- 
tate on  what  is  most  obscure,  and  welcome  whatever  the  Fates 
allot  you. 

Placet  Stoicis  suo  quamque  rem  nomine  appellare.    IX,  22.. 
The  Stoics  like  to  call  everything  by  its  right  name. 

Stultorum  plena  sunt  omnia.    IX,  22. 
All  places  are  replete  with  fools. 

Omnia  summa  consecutus  es,  virtute  duce,  comite  fortuna. 

x,  3- 

Thou  hast  attained  the  highest  rank,  with  virtue  leading  the 
way  and  fortune  attending  thee. 


AD  FAMILIARES  469 

Nihil  ex  omnibus  rebus  humanis  est  praeclarius  aut  prae-  Ad 
stantius  quam  de  republica  bene  mereri.    X,  5.  Familiar es. 

Of  all  human  things  there  is  nothing  more  full  of  honor  or 
better  than  to  deserve  well  of  one's  country. 

Ipse  tibi  sis  senatus ;  quocumque  te  ratio  reipublicae  ducet, 
sequare.     X,   16. 

Be  to  yourself  the  Senate ;  wherever  the  wellbeing  of  the  state 
points  the  path,  follow  there. 

Culpa  enim  ilia,  bis  ad  eundem,  vulgari  reprehensa  pro- 
verbio  est.    X,  20. 

For  to  stumble  twice  against  the  same  stone  is  a  disgrace,  you 
know,  even  to  a  proverb. 

Nulla  enim  minantis  auctoritas  apud  liberos  est.    XI,  3. 

To  the  free  and  independent,  the  menaces  of  any  man  are 
perfectly  impotent. 

Bellorum  civilium  hi  semper  exitus  sunt,  ut  non  ea  solum 
fiant,  quae  velit  victor,  sed  etiam,  ut  iis  mos  gerendus  sit, 
quibus  adjutoribus  sit  parta  victoria.     XII,  18. 

In  civil  wars  these  are  always  the  results,  that  the  conquered 
must  not  only  submit  to  the  will  of  the  victor,  but  must  obey  those 
who  have  aided  in  obtaining  the  victory. 

In  omnibus  novis  conjunctionibus  interest,  qualis  primus 
aditus  sit,  et  qua  commendatione  quasi  amicitiae  fores 
aperiantur.     XIII,   10. 

In  the  formation  of  new  friendships  it  is  of  importance  to  attend 
to  the  manner  in  which  the  approaches  are  made,  and  by  whose 
means  the  avenues  of  friendship  (if  I  may  so  express  myself)  are 
laid  open. 

Ea  est  enim  profecto  jucunda  laus,  quae  ab  iis  proficiscitur, 
qui  ipsi  in  laude  vixerunt.    XV,  6. 

Praise  is  especially  sweet  when  it  comes  from  those  whose  own 
lives  have  been  the  subject  of  eulogy. 

Laetus  sum  laudari  me,  inquit  Hector,  opinor  apud 
Naevium,  abs  te,  pater,  laudato  viro.    XV,  6. 

I  am  delighted  to  be  praised  by  one  who  is  praised  by  all  the 
world. 


47o 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Ad 

Familiar  es. 


Omnes  tuos  nervos  in  eo  contendas. 
Strain  every  nerve  to  gain  your  point. 


XV,  I4. 


Ad  Quintum 
Fratrem. 


Aliter  scribimus,  quod  eos  solos,  quibus  mittimus,  aliter, 
quod  multos  lecturos  putamus.    XV,  21. 

We  write  differently  when  we  think  that  those  only  to  whom 
we  write  will  read  our  letters,  and  in  a  different  style  when  our 
letters  will  be  seen  by  many. 

Nunquam  sero  te  venisse  putabo,  si  salvus  veneris,  xvi,  12. 
I  shall  never  think  that  you  are  late  in  arriving,  provided  you 
arrive  safely. 

AD  QUINTUM  FRATREM 

Maledicta    et  contumeliae   cum   abhorrent   a   Uteris,   abj 
humanitate,  turn  vero  contraria  sunt  imperio  ac  dignitati. 
I,  1. 

While  railing  and  abusive  language  are  altogether  unworthy 
of  men  of  letters  and  of  gentlemanly  feeling,  they  are  not  less 
unsuitable  to  high  rank  and  dignified  behavior. 

Multis  enim  simulationum  involucris  tegitur,  et  quasi  veils 
quibusdam  obtenditur  uniuscujusque  natura :  f rons,  oculi, 
vultus  persaepe  mentiuntur;  oratio  vero  saepissime.  I,  1. 
For  every  man's  nature  is  concealed  with  many  folds  of  dis- 
guise, and  covered  as  it  were  with  various  veils.  His  brows,  his 
eyes,  and  very  often  his  countenance  are  deceitful,  and  his  speech 
is  most  commonly  a  lie. 

Nam  ut  quisque  est  vir  optimus,  ita  difficillime  esse  alios 
improbos  suspicatur.     I,  1. 

For  the  more  virtuous  any  man  is,  the  less  easily  does  he  suspect 
others  to  be  vicious. 

Ea  molestissime  ferre  homines  debent,  quae  ipsorum  culpa 
ferenda  sunt.     I,  I. 

Men  ought  to  bear  with  greatest  difficulty  those  things  which 
must  be  borne  from  their  own  fault. 

Eorum  qui  futuri  sunt,  judicium  est  verius,  obtrectatione 
et  malevolentia  liberatum.     I,  1. 

The  judgment  of  those  who  come  after  us  is  truer,  because  it 
is  freed  from  feelings  of  envy  and  malevolence. 


BRUTUS  DE  CLARIS  ORATORIBUS  471 

Fallaces  sunt  permulti  et  leves,  et  diuturna  servitute  ad  AdQuintum 
nimiam  assentationem  eruditi.    I,  1  [of  the  Greeks].  Fratrem. 

They  are  for  the  most  part  deceitful  and  unstable,  and  from 
their  long  experience  of  subjection  skilled  in  the  art  of  flattery. 

Iracundia  cum  in  privata  quotidianaque  vita  levis  est 
animi  atque  infirmi,  turn  vero  nihil  est  tarn  deforme  quam 
ad  summum  imperium  etiam  acerbitatem  naturae  adjun- 
gere.    II,  1. 

While  passionateness  is  the  mark  of  a  weak  and  silly  mind  in 
the  daily  intercourse  of  private  life,  so  also  there  is  nothing  so  out 
of  place  as  to  exhibit  moroseness  of  temper  in  high  command. 

Quam  se  ipse  amans  sine  rivali.    in,  8. 

How  much  in  love  with  himself,  and  that  without  a  rival. 

AD  QUIRITES 

Tanquam  bona  valetudo  jucundior  est  eis,   qui  e  gravi  AdQuirites. 
morbo  recreati,  quam  qui  nunquam  aegro  corpore  fuer- 
unt;  sic  haec  omnia  desiderata  magis  quam  assidue  per- 
cepta  delectant.    I,  4. 

Just  as  health  is  more  delightful  to  those  who  have  recovered 
from  a  severe  illness  than  to  those  who  have  never  been  ill,  so  we 
take  more  pleasure  in  what  we  have  long  wanted  than  in  what 
we  are  constantly  obtaining. 

BRUTUS  DE  CLARIS  ORATORIBUS 


Oratoribus. 


Dicere  enim  bene  nemo  potest,  nisi  qui  prudenter  intel-  Brutus 

ligit.      VI.  De  Claris 

No  one  can  speak  well,  unless  he  thoroughly  understands  his 
subject. 

Pads   est  comes   otiique   socia   et  jam  bene   constitutae 
civitatis  quasi  alumna  quaedam  eloquentia.    XII. 

Eloquence  is  the  comrade  of  peace,  the  ally  of  leisure,  and,  in 
some  sense,  the  foster  child  of  a  well-ordered  state. 

Ut  enim  hominis  decus  ingenium,  sic  ingenii  ipsius  lumen 
est  eloquentia.     XV. 

As  genius  is  man's  brightest  ornament,  so  it  is  eloquence  that 
illuminates  genius  itself. 


472 

Brutus 
De  Claris 
Oratoribus. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Proximus  sed  longo  intervallo. 
Next,  but  at  a  long  interval. 


XLVII. 


Magni  interest  quos  quisque  audiat  quotide  domi;  quibus- 
cum  loquatur  a  puero,  quemadmodum  patres,  paedagogi, 
matres  etiam  loquantur.     LVIII. 

It  makes  a  great  difference  to  whom  we  listen  in  our  daily 
home  life;  with  whom  we  have  been  accustomed  to  talk  from  boy- 
hood upwards,  and  how  our  fathers,  our  tutors,  and  our  mothers 
speak. 

Et  praeteritorum  recordatio  est  acerba  et  acerbior  exspec- 
tatio  reliquorum.     Itaque  omittamus  lugere.     lxxvi. 

Sad  are  our  memories  of  the  past,  and  sadder  still  our  anticipa- 
tions of  the  future.    Therefore  let  us  banish  mourning. 

Quum  honos  sit  praemium  virtutis,  judicio  studioque 
civium  delatum  ad  aliquem,  qui  eum  sententiis,  qui  suf- 
frages adeptus  est,  is  mihi  et  honestus  et  honoratus 
videtur.     lxxxi. 

Since  the  reward  of  virtue  is  honor,  bestowed  on  a  man  by  the 
judgment  and  the  good  will  of  his  fellow-citizens,  I  maintain  that 
whoever  has  succeeded  in  gaining  their  good  opinion  and  their 
suffrages  is  an  honest  and  an  honorable  man. 


DE  AMICITIA 

DeAmicitia.  Neque  assentior  iis,  qui  haec  nuper  dissere  coeperunt,  cum 
corporibus  simul  animos  interire  atque  omnia  morte 
deleri.  Plus  apud  me  antiquorum  auctoritas  valet,  .... 
qui  dicebant  animos  hominum  esse  divinos,  iisque,  cum  e 
corpore  excessissent,  reditum  in  coelum  patere,  optimoque 
et  justissimo  cuique  expeditissimum.    Ill,  IV. 

Nor  am  I  able  to  agree  with  those  who  have  begun  to  affirm 
that  the  soul  dies  with  the  body,  and  that  all  things  are  destroyed 
by  death.  I  am  more  inclined  to  be  of  the  opinion  of  those  among 
the  ancients,  who  used  to  maintain  that  the  souls  of  men  are  divine, 
and  when  they  leave  the  body  they  return  to  heaven,  and  those 
who  are  the  most  virtuous  and  upright  have  the  most  speedy 
entrance. 


DE  AMICITIA  473 

Cum  propinquis  amicitiam   natura  ipsa  peperit:  sed  ea   De  Amicitia. 
non  satis  habet  firmitatis.     V. 

Nature  herself  has  produced  friendship  with  relations,  but  it  is 
never  very  stable. 

Agamus,  igitur,  pingui,  ut  aiunt,  Minerva.    V. 
Let  us  bring  to  bear  our  plain  mother  wit. 

Hoc  praestat  amicitia  propinquitati,  quod  ex  propinquitate 
benevolentia  tolli  potest,  ex  amicitia  non  potest;  sublata 
enim  benevolentia,  amicitiae  nomen  tollitur,  propinqui- 
tatis  manet.     v. 

Friendship  has  this  advantage  over  kinship,  that  the  latter 
may  exist  without  good  feeling,  the  former  cannot;  if  there  be  no 
good  feeling  the  very  name  of  friendship  vanishes,  while  that  of 
kinship  continues. 

Qua  quidem  [amicitia']  haud  scio,  an,  excepta  sapientia, 
quidquam  melius  homini  sit  a  diis  immortalibus  datum. 
Divitias  alii  praeponunt,  bonam  alii  valetudinem,  alii 
potentiam,  alii  honores,  multi  etiam  voluptates.  Bellua- 
rum  hoc  quidem  extremum  est;  ilia  autem  superiora, 
caduca  et  incerta  posita  non  tarn  in  nostris  consiliis,  quam 

;  in  fortunae  temeritate.  Qui  autem  in  virtute  summum 
bonum  ponunt,  praeclare  illi  quidem :  sed  haec  ipsa  virtus 
amicitiam  et  gignit,  et  continet:  nee  sine  virtute  amicitia 
esse  ullo  pacto  potest.    VI. 

If  we  except  wisdom,  I  know  not  if  the  immortal  gods  have 
bestowed  so  excellent  a  gift  on  mankind,  as  friendship.  Some  give 
the  preference  to  riches,  some  to  health,  some  to  power,  others  to 
honors,  and  not  a  few  to  pleasures.  This  last,  indeed,  constitutes 
the  happiness  of  brutes ;  and  even  the  former  are  frail  and  uncer- 

-  tain,  depending,  not  so  much  on  our  own  prudence,  as  on  the 
caprice  of  fortune.  Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  place  their 
chief  happiness  in  virtue  act  an  excellent  part :  but  then  this  virtue 
begets  and  maintains  friendship;  which,  without  it,  could  by  no 
means  subsist. 

Secundas  res  splendidiores  facit  amicitia  et  adversas  par- 
tiens  communicansque  leviores.     VI. 

Friendship  throws  a  greater  luster  on  prosperity,  while  it 
lightens  adversity  by  sharing  in  its  griefs  and  anxieties. 


474  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeAmicitia.  Est  autem  amicitia  nihil  aliud,  nisi  omnium  divinarum, 
humanarumque  rerum  cum  benevolentia,  et  caritate  summa 
consensio :  qua  quidem  haud  scio,  an,  excepta  sapientia, 
quidquam  melius  homini  sit  a  diis  immortalibus  datum.  VI. 
Friendship  only  truly  exists  where  men  harmonize  in  their 
views  of  things  human  and  divine,  accompanied  with  the  greatest 
love  and  esteem;  I  know  not  whether,  with  the  exception  of  wis- 
dom, the  gods  have  given  us  anything  better. 

Quocirca  et  absentes  adsunt,  et  egentes  abundant,  et  im- 
becilles  valent,  et,  quod  difficilius  dictu  est,  mortui  vivunt. 
VII. 

For  in  this  way  we  may  say  that  the  absent  are  present,  the 
needy  have  abundance,  the  weak  are  in  health,  and,  what  may  seem 
absurd,  the  dead  are  alive. 

Quae  enim  domus  tarn  stabilis,  quae  tarn  firma  civitas  est, 
quae  non  odiis  atque  dissidiis  funditus  possit  everti?    VII.  j 
There  is  no  house  so  strong,  no  state  so  firmly  established,  that  ! 
it  may  not  be  levelled  to  the  ground  by  internal  hatreds  and  dis- 
sensions. 

Verum    enim    amicum   qui    intuetur,    tanquam    exemplar 
aliquod   intuetur  sui.      Quocirca   et   absentes   adsunt,    et , 
egentes  abundant,  et  imbecilli  valent  et,  quod  difficilius; 
dictu   est,    mortui    vivunt:    tantus    eos   honos,    memoria, ; 
desiderium  prosequitur  amicorum.     VII. 

He  who  looks  upon  a  true  friend  looks  upon  a  sort  of  copy  of 
himself.  Wherefore  the  absent  are  present,  the  poor  are  rich,  the 
sick  are  made  whole  and,  more  difficult  still,  the  dead  live;  so  far, 
are  they  followed  by  the  respect,  the  memory,  the  yearning  affec- 
tion of  their  friends. 

Nulla   est  igitur  excusatio  peccati,   si   amici   causa  pec- 
caveris.     xi. 

It  is  no  excuse  for  sin  that  we  sinned  for  a  friend's  sake. 

Haec  igitur  prima  lex  amicitiae  sanciatur,  ut  ab  amici? 
honesta  petamus,  amicorum  causa  honesta  faciamus.    xiii 
Let  this,  therefore,  be  established  as  a  primary  law  of  friend' 
ship,  that  we  expect  from  our  friends  only  what  is  honorable  and 
for  our  friends'  sake,  do  what  is  honorable. 


DE  AMICITIA  475 

Ergo  hoc  proprium  est  animi  bene  constituti,  et  laetari   DeAmicitia. 
bonis  rebus  et  dolere  contrariis.     XIII. 

This  is  the  evidence  of  a  well-trained  mind,  that  it  delights  in 
what  is  good  and  recoils  instinctively  from  what  is  bad? 

Solem  enim  e  mundo  tollere  videntur  qui  amicitiam  e  vita 
tollunt     xiil. 

Robbing  life  of  friendship  is  like  robbing  the  world  of  the  sun. 

Non  enim  solum  ipsa  fortuna  caeca  est,  sed  eos  etiam 
plerumque  efficit  caecos,  quos  complexa  est.  Itaque  effe- 
runtur  illi  fere  fastidio,  et  contumacia:  neque  quidquam 
insipiente  fortunato  intolerabilius  fieri  potest.  Atque  hoc 
quidem  videre  licet,  eos,  qui  antea  commodis  fuerunt  mori- 
bus,  imperio,  potestate,  prosperis  rebus  immutari,  sper- 
nique  ab  iis  veteres  amicitias,  indulged  novis.     XV. 

For  not  only  is  Fortune  herself  blind,  but  she  generally  causes 
those  men  to  be  blind  whose  interests  she  has  more  particularly 
embraced.  Therefore  they  are  often  haughty  and  arrogant;  nor 
is  there  anything  more  intolerable  than  a  prosperous  fool.  And 
hence  we  often  see  that  men,  who  were  at  one  time  affable  and 
agreeable,  are  completely  changed  by  prosperity,  despising  their  old 
friends,  and  clinging  to  new. 

Negabat  ullam  vocem  inimiciorem  amicitiae  potuisse  re- 
periri,  quam  ejus,  qui  dixisset,  ita  amare  oportere,  ut  si 
aliquando  esset  osurus.    XVI. 

He  used  to  maintain  that  there  was  no  maxim  more  at  variance 
with  friendship  than  that  of  the  man  who  said,  "that  we  ought 
always  to  indulge  in  love  as  if  we  might  one  day  hate." 

Ennius  recte :  Amicus  certus  in  re  incerta  cernitur.     xvn. 
Ennius  has  well  remarked,  "that  a  real  friend  is  known  in 
adversity." 

Nee  vero  negligenda  est  fama,  nee  mediocre  telum  ad  res 
gerendas  existimare  oportet  benevolentiam  civium,  quam 
blanditiis  et  assentando  colligere  turpe  est;  virtus,  quam 
sequitur  caritas,  minime  repudianda  est.    xvn. 

Popularity  indeed,  if  purchased  at  the  expense  of  base  conde- 
scension to  vice,  is  a  disgrace  to  the  possessor,  but  when  it  is  the 
natural  result  of  praiseworthy  action,  it  is  an  acquisition  which  no 
wise  man  will  despise. 


476  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeAmicitia.    Aperte  enim  vel  odisse,  magis  ingenui  est,  quam  fronte 
occultare  sententiam.     xvni. 

Open  and  avowed  hatred  far  more  becomes  a  man  of  straight- 
forward character  than  concealing  his  sentiments  with  a  smooth 
brow. 

Vulgo  dicitur  multos  modios  salis  simul  edendos  esse,  ut 
amicitiae  munus  expletum  sit.     xix. 

It  is  a  common  proverb  that  many  bushels  of  salt  must  be  eaten 
together,  before  the  duties  due  to  friendship  can  be  fulfilled. 

Maxima  est  enim  vis  vetustatis  et  consuetudinis.    XIX. 
Great  is  the  power  of  antiquity  and  of  custom. 

Odiosum  sane  genus  hominum,  officia  exprobrantium: 
quae  meminisse  debet  is,  in  quern  collata  sunt,  non  com- 
memorare,  qui  contulit.     XX. 

That  is  a  detestable  race  of  men  who  are  always  raking  up  kind- 
nesses conferred;  he  who  has  received  them  ought  to  have  them 
on  his  memory,  and  not  the  man  who  has  conferred  them. 

Quod  nisi  idem  in  amicitiam  transferatur,  verus  amicus 
numquam  reperietur;  est  enim  is  quidem  tamquam  alter 
idem.    xxi. 

Unless  this  idea  be  adopted  in  friendship,  a  true  friend  will 
never  be  found;  for  he  is  like  a  second  self. 

Rarum  genus  (et  quidem  omnia  praeclara  rara)  nee  quid- 
quam  difficilius,  quam  reperire,  quod  sit  omni  ex  parte  in 
suo  genere  perfectum.    XXI. 

A  kind  of  men,  few  and  far  between  (all  good  things  are  rare), 
for  there  is  nothing  more  difficult  to  find  than  perfection. 

Plerique  neque  in  rebus  humanis  quidquam  bonum  norunt, 
nisi  quod  fructuosum  sit,  et  amicos,  tanquam  pecudes,  eos 
potissimum  diligunt,  ex  quibus  sperant  se  maximum  fruc- 
tum  esse  capturos.     XXI. 

In  the  affairs  of  this  world  many  men  recognize  nothing  as  good, 
unless  it  is  also  profitable,  and  value  their  friends  as  they  do  their 
live  stock,  proportionately  to  their  expectation  of  making  a  profit 
out  of  them. 


DE  AM1C1TIA  477 

Maximum  ornamentum  amlcitiae  tollit,  qui  ex  ea  tollit  DeAmkitia. 
verecundiam.     XXII. 

He  takes  the  greatest  ornament  from  friendship,  who   takes 
modesty  from  it. 

Virtutum  amicitia  adjutrix  a  natura  data  est,  non  vitiorum 
comes,    xxn. 

Friendship  was  appointed  by  nature  as  an  aid  to  the  virtues,  not 
as  a  companion  of  vice. 

Praeposteris  enim  utimur  consiliis,  et  acta  agimus,  quod 
vetamur  veteri  proverbio.     XXII. 

For  this  is  a  preposterous  idea,  and  we  do  over  that  which  has 
been  done,  which  we  are  prohibited  to  do  by  the  ancient  proverb. 

A  Tarentino  Archyta:  "Si  quis  in  coelum  ascendisset, 
naturamque  mundi,  et  pulchritudinem  siderum  perspexis- 
set,  insuavem  illam  admirationem  ei  fore;  quae  jucundis- 
sima  fuisset,  si  aliquem,  cui  narraret,  habuisset."  XXIII. 
If  a  man  could  mount  to  heaven  and  survey  the  mighty  uni- 
verse with  all  the  planetary  orbs,  his  admiration  of  their  beauties 
would  be  much  diminished,  unless  he  had  someone  to  share  in  his 
pleasure. 

Illud  Catonis:  "Melius  de  quibusdam  acerbos  inimicos 
mereri,  quam  eos  amicos,  qui  dulces  videantur :  illos  verum 
saepe  dicere,  hos  numquam."     XXIV. 

Bitter  and  unrelenting  enemies  often  deserve  better  of  us  than 
those  friends  whom  we  are  inclined  to  regard  as  pleasant  compan- 
ions; the  former  often  tell  us  the  truth,  the  latter  never. 

Assentatio,  vitiorum  adjutrix,  procul  amoveatur.     xxiv. 
Let   flattery,   the   handmaid   of   vices,    be   far   removed    from 
friendship. 

Molesta  Veritas  est,  si  quidem  ex  ea  nascitur  odium,  quod 
est  venenum  amicitiae;  sed  obsequium  multo  molestius, 
quod  peccatis  indulgens  praecipitem  amicum  ferri  sinit. 

XXIV. 

Truth  is  grievous  indeed,  if  it  gives  birth  to  ill-feeling  which 
poisons  friendship;  but  more  grievous  still  is  the  complaisance 
which,  by  passing  over  a  friend's  faults,  permits  him  to  drift 
headlong  to  destruction. 


478 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


DeAmicitia.    Cujus  autem  aures  veritati  clausae  sunt,  ut  ab  amico  verum 
audire  nequeat,  hujus  salus  desperanda  est.     xxiv. 

When  a  man's  ears  are  so  closed  to  the  truth  that  he  will  not 
listen  to  it  even  from  a  friend,  his  condition  is  desperate. 

Virtute  enim  ipsa  non  tarn  multi  praediti  esse,  quam  videri 
volunt.    xxvi. 

The  fact  is,  there  are  not  so  many  possessed  of  virtue  itself  as 
wish  to  appear  its  possessor. 

Vivit  tamen  semperque  vivet;  virtutem  enim  amavi  illius 
viri,  quae  exstincta  non  est.     xxvil. 

He  lives  and  shall  forever  live;  for  it  was  his  virtues  that 
endeared  him  to  me,  and  they  can  never  die. 

Equidem  ex  omnibus  rebus,  quas  mihi  aut  fortuna  aut 
natura  tribuit,  nihil  habeo,  quod  cum  amicitia  Scipionis 
possim  comparare.  In  hac  mihi  de  re  publica  consensus, 
in  hac  rerum  privatarum  consilium,  in  eadem  requies  plena 
oblectationis  fuit.  Numquam  ilium  ne  minima  quidem  re  j 
offendi,  quod  quidem  senserim;  nihil  audivi  ex  eo  ipse, 
quod  nollem.     XXVII. 

Of  all  the  blessings  which  fortune  or  nature  has  bestowed  upon 
me,  I  have  nothing  that  compares  with  the  friendship  of  Scipio.  I 
have  found  it  a  companion  in  all  public  affairs,  a  counsellor  in 
private,  and  always  a  source  of  the  truest  satisfaction.  I  am  not 
conscious  of  ever  having  given  him  the  slightest  offense;  and, 
surely  I  never  heard  a  word  from  his  lips  which  I  had  cause  to  ; 
wish  he  had  not  uttered. 

Vos  autem  hortor  ut  ita  virtutem  locetis,  sine  qua  amicitia 
esse  non  potest,  ut  ea  excepta  nihil  amicitia  praestabilius 
putetis.    XXVII. 

I  entreat  you  to  remember  that  there  can  be  no  true  friend- 
ship that  is  not  founded  on  virtuous  principles,  nor  any  acquisition,, 
virtue  only  excepted,  that  is  preferable  to  friendship. 


DE  DIVINATIONE 

De  Jacet  enim  corpus  dormientis  ut  mortui;  viget  autem  et 

Divinatione.     vivjt  animus.      I,  30. 


The  body  of  the  sleeper  lies  as  though  dead ;  but  his  mind  lives; 


and  flourishes. 


DE  DIVINATIONE  479 

Negat  sine  furore  Democritus  quemquam  poetam  mag-  De 

num  esse  pOSSe.      I,  37.  Divinatione. 

Democritus  maintains  that  there  can  be  no  great  poet  without 
a  spice  of  madness. 

Affert  vetustas  omnibus  in  rebus  longinqua  observatione 
incredibilem  scientiam.     1,  49. 

A  long  course  of  careful  observations,  conducted  for  a  length 
of  time,  brings  with  it  an  incredible  accuracy  of  knowledge* 

Certis  rebus  certa  signa  praecurrunt.    I,  52. 
Certain  signs  precede  certain  events. 

Quod  cum  ita  sit,  nihil  est  factum,  quod  non  futurum 
fuerit,  eodemque  modo  nihil  est  futurum,  cujus  non  causas 
id  ipsum  efficientes,  natura  continet.    I,  55. 

Since  this  is  so,  nothing  has  ever  happened  which  has  not  been 
predestinated,  and  in  the  same  way  nothing  will  ever  occur,  the 
predisposing  causes  for  which  may  not  be  found  in  nature. 

"Qui  sibi  semitam  non  sapiunt,  alteri  monstrant  viam; 
Quibu'  divitias  pollicentur,  ab  iis  drachmam  ipsi  petunt." 
[Ennius,  quoted  by  Cicero]  1,  58. 
Though  they  know  not  the  path,  they'll  point  the  way  to  others; 
They'll  promise  wealth,  and  then  they'll  beg  a  trifling  loan. 

"Non  habeo  denique  nauci  Marsum  augurem, 

Non  vicanos  haruspices,  non  de  circo  astrologos, 

Non  Isiacos  conjectores,  non  interpretes  somnium, 

Non  enim  sunt  ii  scientia,  aut  arte  divini, 

Sed  superstitiosi  vates,  impudentesque  harioli. 

Aut  inertes,  aut  insani,  aut  quibus  egestas  imperat: 

Qui  sibi  semrtam  non  sapiunt,  alteri  monstrant  viam : 

Quibu'  divitias  pollicentur,  ab  iis  drachmam  ipsi  petunt. 

De  his  divitiis  sibi  deducant  drachmam,  reddant  cetera." 
[Ennius,  quoted  by  Cicero]  I,  58. 
In  short,  I  care  nothing  for  the  Marsian  augurs,  nor  the  village 
haruspices,  nor  strolling  astrologers,  nor  for  the  gipsy  priests  of 
Isis,  nor  for  the  interpreters  of  dreams;  for  these  possess  neither 
science  nor  art,  but  are  superstitious  priests  and  impudent  im- 
postors. They  are  either  lazy  or  mad,  or  act  to  gain  a  livelihood; 
knowing  not  the  right  path  themselves,  they  pretend  to  show  it 
to  others,  promising  riches  to  gain  a  penny. 


48o  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  Quod  enim   munus   reipublicae   afferre   majus,   meliusve 

Divmatione.    possumus,  quam  si  docemus,  atque  erudimus  juventutem. 

II,   2. 

What  nobler  employment,  or  [what]  more  advantageous  to  the 
state,  than  that  of  the  man  who  instructs  the  rising  generation ! 

Bene  qui  conjiciet,  vatem  hunc  perhibebo  optimum.     II,  5. 
The  best  guesser  I  shall  always  call  the  most  sagacious  prophet. 

Nihil  enim  est  tarn  contrarium  rationi  et  constantiae  quam 
fortuna.    II,  7. 

Nothing  is  so  unreasonable  and  inconsistent  as  fortune. 

Atque  ego  ne  utilem  quidem  arbitror  esse  nobis  futurarum 
rerum  scientiam.  Quae  enim  vita  fuisset  Priamo,  si  ab 
adolescentia  scisset,  quos  eventus  senectutis  esset  habi- 
turus!     II,  9. 

For  my  own  part,  I  can  never  believe  that  a  knowledge  of 
future  events  would  be  of  advantage  to  us;  for  what  a  miserable 
life  Priam  would  have  led,  had  he  known  the  occurrences  that 
were  to  befall  him  in  his  old  age! 

Quod  est  ante  pedes,  nemo  spectat:  coeli  scrutantur  plagas. 
n,  13. 

Nobody  looks  at  what  is  immediately  before  them;  we  are  all 
employed  in  gazing  at  the  stars. 

Etsi  causae  non  reperiantur  istarum  rerum,  res  tamen 
ipsae  observari,  animadvertique  potuerunt.     II,  21. 

Though  it  be  impossible  to  discover  the  occult  causes  of  natural 
phenomena,  still  it  is  well  to  observe  and  animadvert  upon  the 
facts  themselves. 

Quod  crebo  videt,  non  miratur,  etiam  si,  cur  fiat,  nes- 
cit.  Quod  ante  non  vidit;  id  si  evenerit,  ostentum  esse; 
censet.    II,  22. 

A  man  is  not  surprised  at  what  he  sees  frequently,  even  though 
he  be  ignorant  of  the  reason;  whereas  if  that  which  he  never 
beheld  before  happens,  then  he  calls  it  a  prodigy. 

Causarum  ignoratio  in  re  nova  mirationem  facit.    II,  22 j 
In   extraordinary   events   ignorance   of   their   causes   produce 
astonishment. 


DE  DIVINATIONE  481 

Eumque  terrorem,  quern  tibi  rei  novitas  attulerit,  naturae  De 
ratione  depellito.    II,  28.  Divinatione. 

Drive  away  by  the  principles  of  nature  that  terror  which  may 
have  been  caused  by  the  strangeness  of  the  event. 

Nihil  fieri  sine  causa  potest,  nee  quicquam  fit  quod  fieri 
non  potest.  Nee  si  id  factum  est,  quod  fieri  potuit,  por- 
tentum  debet  videri.  Nulla  igitur  portenta  sunt.  11,  28. 
Nothing  can  be  done  without  a  cause,  nor  has  anything  been 
done  which  cannot  again  be  done.  Nor,  if  that  has  been  done 
which  could  be  done,  ought  it  to  be  regarded  as  a  prodigy.  There 
are,  therefore,  no  prodigies. 

Nihil  debet  esse  in  philosophia  commentitiis  fabellis  loci. 

!   II,  38. 

There  should  be  no  place  in  philosophy  for  fanciful  stories. 

1   Quotusquisque   est   qui   voluptatem   neget   esse   bonum? 
'.   plerique  etiam  summum  bonum  dicunt.    II,  39. 

How  many  people  are  there  who  deny  that  pleasure  is  a  good  ?        , 
■    Some  even  call  it  the  highest  good. 

Nihil  est  quod  deus  efficere  non  possit.    II,  41. 
There  is  nothing  which  God  cannot  accomplish. 

Facile  princeps.    II,  42. 

I        Easily  first. 
Non  enim  omnis  error  stultitia  est  dicenda.    II,  43. 
We  must  not  say  that  every  mistake  is  a  foolish  one. 

Ex  falsis,  ut  ab  ipsis  didicimus,  verum  effici  non  potest. 
II,  51. 

From  the  false,  as  they  themselves  have  taught  us,  we  can 
obtain  nothing  true. 

Quid  est  tarn  incertum  quam  talorum  jactus?  tamen,  nemo 
est  quin,  saepe  jactans,  Venerium  jaciat  aliquando,  non- 
nunquam  etiam  iterum  et  tertium.     11,  59. 

What  is  more  uncertain  that  the  fall  of  the  dice?  Yet  every- 
one will  occasionally  throw  the  double  six,  if  he  throws  often 
enough;  nay,  sometimes  even  twice  or  thrice  running. 


482  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  Nec  enim  ignorare  deus  potest,  qua.  mente  quisque  sit. 

Divinatione.     jj    £o. 

God  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  character  of  man. 

Esse  praestantem  aliquam,  aeternamque  naturam,  et  earn 
suspiciendam,  admirandamque  hominum  generi,  pulchri- 
tudo  mundi,  ordoque  rerum  coelestium  cogit  confiteri. 
II,  72. 

The  beauty  of  the  world  and  the  orderly  arrangement  of  every- 
thing celestial  makes  us  confess  that  there  is  an  excellent  and 
eternal  nature,  which  ought  to  be  worshipped  and  admired  by  all 
mankind. 

Nec  vero  superstitione  tollenda  religio  tollitur.    II,  72. 
We  do  not  destroy  religion  by  destroying  superstition. 


DE  FINIBUS 

DeFinibus.  Nec  modus  est  ullus  investigandi  veri,  nisi  inveneris:  et 
quaerendi  defatigatio  turpis  est,  quum  id  quod  quaeritur 
sit  pulcherrimum.     I,  1. 

There  should  be  no  end  to  the  search  for  truth,  other  than 
the  finding  of  it;  it  is  disgraceful  to  grow  weary  of  seeking  when 
the  object  of  your  search  is  so  beautiful. 

Doloris  omnis  privatio  recte  nominata  est  voluptas.    I,  1 1. 
What  we  call  pleasure,  and  rightly  so,  is  the  absence  of  all  pain. 

Ignoratione  rerum  bonarum,  et  malarum,  maxime  homi- 
num vita  vexatur.    I,  13. 

Through  ignorance  of  what  is  good  and  what  is  bad,  the  life' 
of  man  is  greatly  perplexed. 

Aequo,  animo  e  vita,  quum  ea  non  placeat,  tanquam  e 
theatro,  exeamus.    I,  15. 

If  life  is  distasteful  to  us,  let  us  leave  it  as  calmly  as  though! 
we  were  leaving  the  theatre. 

Accedit  etiam  mors,  quae,  quasi  saxum  Tantalo,  semper; 
impendet:  turn  superstitio,  qua  qui  est  imbutus,  quietus: 
esse  nunquam  potest.     I,  18, 


DE  FIN  I  BUS  483 

Death  approaches,  which  is  always  impending  over  us,  like  the   DeFinibus. 
stone  over  Tantalus;    then  comes  superstition,   and   he   who   is 
racked  with  it  can  never  have  peace  of  mind. 

Omnium  rerum  natura  cognita,  levamur  superstitione, 
liberamur  mortis  metu,  non  conturbamur  ignoratione 
rerum,  e  qua  ipsa  horribiles  exsistunt  saepe  formidines. 

I,  19. 

When  we  know  the  nature  of  all  things,  we  are  relieved  from 
superstition,  freed  from  the  fear  of  death,  and  not  disturbed  by 
ignorance  of  circumstances,  from  which  often  arise  fearful  terrors. 

Gravissimae  sunt  ad  beate  vivendum  breviter  enuntiatae 
sententiae.    II,  7. 

Terse  sentences,  briefly  expressed,  have  great  weight  in  leading 
to  a  happy  life. 

Homo  ad  duas  res,  ad  intelligendum  et  ad  agendum,  est 
natus.    II,  13. 

Man  has  been  born  for  two  things  —  thinking  and  acting. 

Natura  cupiditatem  ingenuit  homini  veri  videndi.    11,  14. 
Nature  has  inspired  man  with  the  desire  of  seeing  the  truth. 

Quam  ilia  ardentes  amores  excitaret  sui,   si  videretur! 

II,  16. 

What  fervent  love  of  herself  would  Virtue  excite  if  she  could 
be  seen! 

Est  pecunia  effectrix  multarum  voluptatum.    11,  17. 
Money  is  the  creator  of  many  pleasures. 

Temperantia  est  moderatio  cupiditatum  rationi  obediens. 
II,  19. 

Temperance  is  the  moderating  of  one's  desires  in  obedience  to 
reason. 

Officii  fructus  sit  ipsum  officium.    11,  22. 
Let  the  reward  of  duty  be  duty  itself. 

In  omni  arte,  quavis  scientia,  vel  in  ipsa  virtute,  optimum 
l  quidque  rarissimum  est.    II,  25. 

In  every  art,  science,  and  we  may  say  even  in  virtue  itself,  the 
best  is  most  rarely  to  be  found. 


484  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeFinibus.     Sapientem  locupletat  ipsa  Natura.     11,  28. 
Nature  herself  makes  the  wise  man  rich. 

An  id  exploratum  cuiquam  potest  esse,  quomodo  sese 
habiturum  sit  corpus,  non  dico  ad  annum,  sed  ad  ves- 
peram?    II,  28. 

Can  anyone  find  out  how  his  body  shall  be,  I  do  not  say  a  year 
hence,  but  even  at  evening? 

Socratem  audio  dicentem,  cibi  condimentum  esse  famem, 
potionis  sitim.    II,  28. 

I  hear  Socrates  saying  that  the  best  seasoning  for  food  is 
hunger,  for  drink,  thirst. 

Facta  ejus  cum  dictis  discrepant.    II,  30. 
His  deeds  do  not  agree  with  his  words. 

Vulgo  enim  dicitur,  Jucundi  actl  labor es:  nee  male 
Euripides:  concludam,  si  potero,  Latine :  Graecum  enim 
hunc  versum  nostis  omnes:  Suavis  laborum  est  praeteri- 
torum  memoria.    II,  32. 

It  is  generally  said,  "Past  labors  are  pleasant."  Euripides  says, 
for  you  all  know  the  Greek  verse,  "The  recollection  of  past  labors 
is  pleasant." 

Jucundi  acti  labores.    11,  32. 
Delightful  are  past  labors. 

Maximas  vero  virtutes  jacere  omnes  necesse  est,  voluptate 
dominante.     II,  35. 

All  the  greatest  virtues  must  lie  dormant  where  pleasure  holds; 
sway. 

Quis  non  odit  sordidos,  vanos,  leves,  futiles?    Ill,  11. 

Who  does  not  hate  the  mean,  the  vain,  the  fickle,  and  the 
trifling? 

Nihil  est  enim  de  quo  minus  dubitari  possit,  quam  et  hon^ 
esta  expetenda  per  se,  et  eodem  modo  turpia  per  se  esse 
fugienda.     ill,  11. 


DE  FIN  I  BUS  485 

There  is  nothing  about  which  we  can  have  less  doubt  than  DeFinibus. 
that  good  is  to  be  sought  for  its  own  sake,  and  evil  for  its  own 
sake  to  be  avoided. 

Nee  vero  pietas  adversus  deos,  nee  quanta  his  gratia 
debeatur,  sine  explicatione  naturae  intelligi  potest.  Ill,  22. 
It  is  not  possible  to  understand  the  meaning  of  reverence  for 
the  gods,  nor  how  great  a  debt  of  gratitude  we  owe  them,  unless 
we  turn  to  nature  for  an  explanation. 

Rectius  enim  (sapiens)  appellabitur  rex  quam  Tarquinius, 
qui  nee  se  nee  suos  regere  potuit.    Ill,  22. 

The  wise  man  better  deserves  the  title  of  king  than  Tarquinius, 
who  could  not  rule  either  himself  or  his  people. 

Nati  sumus  ad  congregationem  hominum  et  ad  societatem 
communitatemque  generis  humani.     IV,  2. 

We  have  been  born  to  unite  with  our  fellow-men,  and  to  join 
the  community  of  the  human  race. 

Sed  positum  sit  primum  nosmet  ipsos  commendatos  esse 
nobis,  primamque  ex  natura  hanc  habere  appetitionem,  ut 
conservemus  nosmet  ipsos.     IV,  10. 

Let  it  first  be  granted  that  we  are  given  in  charge  to  ourselves, 
and  that  the  first  thing  we  receive  from  nature  is  the  instinct  of 
self-preservation. 

Animi  cultus  ille  erat  ei  quasi  quidem  humanitatis  cibus. 
V,  19. 

This  mental  culture  was  as  it  were  food  to  his  higher  nature. 

Nee  voluptatem  requirentes,  nee  fugientes  laborem.  V,  20. 
Neither  seeking  pleasure  nor  avoiding  toil. 

Omnium  rerum  principia  parva  sunt.    V,  21. 
The  beginnings  of  all  things  are  small. 

Justitia  in  suo  cuique  tribuendo  cernitur.     V,  23. 
Justice  is  seen  in  giving  every  one  his  own. 

Consuetudine  quasi  alteram  quandam  naturam  effici.    V,  25. 
Habit  produces  a  kind  of  second  nature. 


486  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


DE  HARUSPICUM  RESPONSIS 

De  Deorum  tela  in  impiorum  mentibus  figuntur.    XVIII. 

Haruspicum         n^fe  darts  of  the  gods  are  fixed  in  the  minds  of  the  wicked. 
Responsis. 

A  diis  quidem  immortalibus  quae  potest  homini  major  esse 
poena,  furore  atque  dementia?    XVIII. 

What  greater  punishment  can  the  immortal  gods  inflict  on  man 
than  madness  or  insanity? 

Popularis  aura.    XX. 

The  breeze  of  popular  favor. 

Neque  enim  ullus  alius  discordiarum  solet  esse  exitus, 
inter  claros  et  potentes  viros,  nisi  aut  universus  interitus, 
aut  victoris  dominatus,  aut  regnum.    XXV. 

When  men  of  eminence  and  power  are  driven  to  take  up  arms  j 
against  each  other,  one  of  two  things  is  certain  to  happen :  either 
both   parties  are   completely   annihilated,   or   the   victor  becomes 
master  and  sovereign  of  the  state. 

Nostrae  nobis  sunt  inter  nos  irae  discordiaeque  placandae. 

XXVIII. 

Our  anger  and  quarrels  must  be  put  away. 

Haec  deorum  immortalium  vox,  haec  paene  oratio  judi-' 
canda  est,  cum  ipse  mundus,  cum  aer  atque  terrae,  motu 
quodam  novo  contremiscunt  et  inusitato  aliquid  sono 
incredibilique  praedicunt.    xxvm. 

This  ought  almost  to  be  regarded  as  the  voice  and  the  words 
of  the  immortal  gods,  when  the  globe  itself,  the  air  and  the  earth, 
shake  with  an  unusual  agitation  and  prophesy  to  us  in  accents 
that  we  have  never  before  heard  and  which  seem  incredible. 


DE  IMPERIO  CN.  POMPEII 

Delmperio     Ego  enim  sic  existimo,  in  summo  imperatore  quattuor  ha:' 
Cn.  Pompeii.    res  inesse  oportere,  scientiam  rei  militaris,  virtutem,  auc 

toritatem,  felicitatem.    x,  28. 

In  my  opinion  there  are  four  qualifications  necessary  for  a  ver: 

great  general:  skill  in  his  profession,  courage,  authority,  and  luci 


DE  LEGIBUS  487 


DE  LEGE  AGRARIA 

Non  ingenerantur  hominibus  mores  tarn  a  stirpe  generis  DeLege 
ac  seminis,  quam  ex  iis  rebus,  quae  ab  ipsa  natura  loci,  Agrana. 
et  a  vitae  consuetudine  suppeditantur,  quibus  alimur  et 
vivimus.    II,  35. 

Men's  characters  and  habits  are  not  influenced  so  much  by  the 
peculiarities  of  family  and  race  as  by  the  physical  features  of  their 
native  land  and  their  mode  of  life  —  things  by  which  we  are 
supported  and  by  which  we  live. 

Singularis  homo,  privatus,  nisi  magna  sapientia  praeditus, 
vix  facile  sese  regionibus  officii,  magnis  in  fortunis  et 
copiis  continet.     II,  35. 

An  individual  in  a  private  station,  unless  he  be  endued  with 
great  wisdom,  cannot  confine  himself  in  due  bounds  if  he  reach 
high  fortune  and  wealth. 


DE  LEGIBUS 

Potius  ignoratio  juris  litigiosa  est  quam  scientia.    I,  6.  DeLegibus. 

The  litigious  spirit  is  more  often  found  with  ignorance  than 
with  knowledge  of  law. 

Lex  est  ratio  summa,  insita  in  natura,  quae  jubet  ea  quae 
facienda  sunt  prohibetque  contraria.     I,  6. 

Law  is  the  highest  expression  of  the  system  of  nature,  which 
ordains  what  is  right  and  forbids  what  is  wrong. 

Animal  hoc  providum,  sagax,  multiplex,  acutum,  memor, 
plenum  rationis  et  consilii,  quern  vocamus  hominem,  prae- 
clara  quadam  conditione  generatum  est  a  supremo  Deo. 
Solum  est  enim  ex  tot  animantium  generibus,  atque  naturis, 
particeps  rationis,  et  cogitationis,  cum  cetera  sint  omnia 
expertia.  Quid  est  autem,  non  dicam  in  homine,  sed  in 
omni  coelo,  atque  terra,  ratione  divinius?  quae  cum 
adolevit,  atque  perfecta  est,  nominatur  rite  sapientia.  I,  7. 
This  provident,  sagacious,  versatile,  subtle,  thoughtful,  rational, 
wise  animal,  which  we  call  man,  has  been  created  by  the  supreme 


488  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeLegibus.  God  with  a  certain  noble  privilege;  for  he  alone  of  so  many 
different  kinds  and  sorts  of  animals  is  partaker  of  reason  and 
reflection,  when  all  others  are  destitute  of  them.  But  what  is 
there,  I  will  not  say  in  man,  but  in  all  heaven  and  earth,  more 
divine  than  reason?  which,  when  it  has  arrived  at  maturity,  is 
properly  termed  wisdom. 

Universus  hie  mundus  una  civitas  communis  deorum  atque 
hominum  existimanda.    I,  7. 

The  whole  world  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  state,  of  which  the 
citizens  are  gods  and  men. 

Itaque  ex  tot  generibus  nullum  est  animal,  praeter  homi- 
nem,  quod  habeat  notitiam  aliquam  Dei:  ipsisque  in  homi- 
nibus  nulla  gens  est  neque  tarn  immansueta  neque  tarn 
fera,  quae  non,  etiam  si  ignoret,  qualem  habere  Deum 
deceat,  tamen  habendum  sciat.  Ex  quo  efficitur  illud,  ut 
is  agnoscat  Deum,  qui,  unde  ortus  sit,  quasi  recordetur,  ac 
noscat.    1,  8. 

Therefore,  of  all  kinds  of  animals  there  is  none  except  man 
that  has  knowledge  of  a  God ;  among  men  there  is  not  a  nation  so 
savage  and  brutish  which,  though  it  may  not  know  what  kind  of 
a  being  God  ought  to  be,  does  not  know  that  there  must  be  one. 
From  this  we  may  infer  that,  whoever,  as  it  were,  recollects  and 
knows  whence  he  is  sprung,  acknowledges  the  existence  of  a  God. 

Natura  solum  hominem  erexit,  ad  coelique  quasi  cog- 
nationis,  domiciliique  pristini  conspectum  excitavit.  I,  9. 
Nature  has  bestowed  on  man  alone  an  erect  stature  and  raised 
his  thoughts  to  the  contemplation  of  heaven,  as  if  it  were  connected 
with  him  by  relationship  and  his  ancient  home. 

Tanta  autem  est  corruptela  malae  consuetudinis,  ut  ab 
ea  tamquam  igniculi  extinguantur  a  natura  dati,  exorian- 
turque,  et  confirmentur  vitia  contraria.    1,  12. 

There  is  in  fact  such  corruption  engendered  in  man  by  bad 
habits,  that  the  sparks,  as  it  were,  of  virtue,  furnished  by  nature, 
are  extinguished,  and  vices  of  an  opposite  kind  spring  up  around 
him  and  become  strengthened. 

Nihilo  sese  plus  quam  alterum  homo  diligat.    I,  12. 
Let  not  man  love  himself  more  than  his  neighbor. 


DE  LEGIBUS  489 

Insectantur  furiae,  non  ardentibus  taedis,  sicut  in  fabulis,   DeLegibus. 
sed  angore  conscientiae,  fraudisque  cruciatu.    I,  14. 

The  furies  pursue  men,  not  with  burning  torches,  as  the  poets 
feign,  but  with  remorse  of  conscience  and  the  tortures  arising 
from  guilt. 

Justitia  est  obtemperatio  scriptis  legibus.    I,  15. 
Justice  is  obedience  to  the  written  laws. 

Ipsum  enim  bonum  non  est  opinionibus,  sed  natura.    I,  17. 
The  absolute  good  is  not  a  matter  of  opinion  but  of  nature. 

Nam  qui  se  ipse  norit,  primum  aliquid  sentiet  se  habere 

divinum,  ingeniumque  in  se  suum,  sicut  simulacrum  ali- 

quod,  dedicatum  putabit;  tantoque  munere  deorum  semper 

dignum  aliquid  et  faciet,  et  sentiet:  et,  cum  se  ipse  per- 

spexerit,   totumque  tentarit,   intelliget,   quemadmodum  a 

natura  subornatus  in  vitam  venerit,  quantaque  instrumenta 

habeat  ad  obtinendam,  adipiscendamque  sapientiam.  I,  22. 

For  whoever  is  acquainted  with  his  own  mind  will,  in  the 

first  place,  feel  that  he  has  a  divine  principle  within  him,  and  will 

regard  his  rational  faculties  as  something  sacred  and  holy;  he  will 

J    always  both  think  and  act  in  a  way  worthy  of  so  great  a  gift  of  the 

i    gods;  and  when  he  shall  have  proved  and  thoroughly  examined 

himself,  he  will  perceive  how  well  furnished  by  nature  he  has 

j    come  into  life,  and  what  noble  instruments  he  possesses  to  obtain 

and  secure  wisdom. 

Movemur  nescio  quo  pacto  locis  ipsis,  in  quibus  eorum 
j   quos  diligimus  aut  admiramus  adsunt  vestigia.    II,  2. 

We  are  moved,  I  know  not  how,  by  the  spots  in  which  we  find 
j    traces  of  those  who  possess  our  esteem  and  admiration. 

A  diis  immortalibus  sunt  nobis  agendi  capienda  primordia. 

I  ",  3- 

We  must  begin  our  acts  with  a  prayer  to  the  immortal  gods. 

Erat  enim  ratio  profecta  a  rerum  natura,  et  ad  recte 
faciendum  impellens,  et  a  delicto  avocans:  quae  non  turn 
denique  incipit  lex  esse,  cum  scripta  est,  sed  turn,  cum  orta 
est.  Orta  autemsimul  est  cum  mentedivina.  Quamobrem, 
lex  vera,  atque  princeps,  apta  ad  jubendum,  et  ad  vetan- 
dum,  ratio  summi  Jovis.     11,  4. 


490  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeLegibus.  For  it  was  reason,  derived  from  the  nature  of  things,  impelling 

man  to  what  is  right,  and  deterring  him  from  what  is  wrong, 
which  does  not  then  begin  to  be  law,  when  it  is  found  written 
down  in  books,  but  was  so  from  the  first  moment  of  its  existence. 
It  was  co-eternal  with  the  divine  mind,  wherefore  true  and  ulti- 
mate law  fitted  to  direct  as  well  as  to  forbid  is  the  mind  of  the 
Supreme  Being. 

Hanc  igitur  video  sapientissimorum  fuisse  sententiam, 
legem  neque  hominum  ingeniis  excogitatam,  nee  scitum 
aliquod  esse  populorum,  sed  aeternum  quiddam,  quod 
universum  mundum  regeret,  imperandi  prohibendique 
sapientia.  Ita  principem  legem  illam,  et  ultimam,  mentem 
esse  dicebant,  omnia  ratione  aut  cogentis,  aut  vetantis  dei: 
ex  qua  ilia  lex,  quam  dii  humano  generi  dederunt,  recte 
est  laudata.  Est  enim  ratio,  mensque  sapientis,  ad  juben- 
dum,  et  ad  deterrendum  idonea.    II,  4. 

I  see,  therefore,  that  this  has  been  the  idea  of  the  wisest,  that 
law  has  not  been  devised  by  the  ingenuity  of  man,  nor  yet  is  it  a 
mere  decree  of  the  people,  but  an  eternal  principle  which  must 
direct  the  whole  universe,  directing  and  forbidding  everything 
with  entire  wisdom.  Thus  they  used  to  say  that  the  mind  of  the 
divinity  was  the  real  and  ultimate  law  which  orders  or  forbids 
everything  justly;  hence  that  law  which  the  gods  have  assigned 
to  mankind  is  justly  deserving  praise,  for  it  is  the  reason  and  mind 
of  a  wise  being  well  fitted  to  direct  or  forbid. 

Lex,   justorum   injustorumque   distinctio,    ad   illam   anti- 
quissimam,  et  rerum  omnium  principem  expressa  naturam, : 
ad  quam  leges  hominum  diriguntur,  quae  supplicio  impro- 
bos  afficiunt,  defendunt  ac  tuentur  bonos.    II,  5. 

Law,  therefore,  is  what  distinguishes  right  and  wrong,  derived' 
from  nature  herself,  the  most  ancient  principle  of  all  things,  to: 
which  the  laws  of  men  direct  themselves,  when  they  impose  pen- 
alties on  the  wicked,  and  protect  and  defend  the  good. 


Qualis  quisque  sit,  qua  mente,  qua  pietate  colat  religiones,, 
intueri   deos   piorumque   et  impiorum   habere   rationem., 

n,  7- 

The  gods  know  what  sort  of  a  person  everyone  really  is;  the} 
take  notice  with  what  feelings  and  with  what  piety  he  attends  tcj 
his  religious  duties,  and  are  sure  to  make  a  distinction  between 
the  good  and  the  wicked. 


DE  LEG  I  BUS  491 

Animi  labes  nee  diuturnitate  vanescere  nee  amnibus  ullis  DeLegibus. 
elui  potest.     II,  10. 

The  stains  that  affect  the  mind  cannot  be  got  rid  of  by  time, 
nor  yet  can  the  multitudinous  waters  of  the  sea  wash  them  away. 

Illud  bene  dictum  est  a  Pythagora,  doctissimo  viro,  turn 
maxime,  et  pietatem,  et  religionem  versari  in  animis,  cum 
rebus  divinis  operam  daremus.     II,  II. 

That  is  a  noble  sentence  of  Pythagoras  —  "Then  chiefly  do 
piety  and  religion  flourish  in  our  souls,  when  we  are  occupied  in 
divine  services." 

Donis  impii  ne  placare  audeant  deos,  Platonem  audiant, 
qui  vetat  dubitare,  qua  sit  mente  futurus  Deus,  cum  vir 
nemo  bonus  ab  improbo  se  donari  velit.     II,  16. 

Let  the  impious  listen  to  Plato,  that  they  may  not  dare  to 
propitiate  the  gods  with  gifts,  for  he  forbids  us  to  doubt  what 
feelings  God  must  entertain  towards  such,  whenever  a  good  man 
is  unwilling  to  accept  gifts  from  the  wicked. 

Nam  non  solum  scire  aliquid,  artis  est,  sed  quaedam  ars 
etiam  docendi.    II,  19. 

For  not  only  is  art  shown  in  knowing  a  thing,  but  there  is  also 
a  certain  art  in  teaching  it. 

Vere   dici   potest,    magistratum   legem    esse    loquentem; 
\   legem  autem,  mutum  magistratum.     HI,  1. 

It  may  truly  be  said  that  the  magistrate  is  a  speaking  law,  and 
I    the  law  is  a  silent  magistrate. 

Qui  modeste  paret,  videtur,  qui  aliquando  imperet,  dignus 
esse.     Ill,  2. 

He  who  obeys  with  modesty  appears  worthy  of  some  day  or 
other  being  allowed  to  command. 

Sine  magistratuum  prudentia  ac  diligentia  esse  civitas  non 
potest.     Ill,  2. 

A  state  cannot  exist  without  the  foresight  and  diligence  of 
magistrates. 


492  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeLegibus.     "Salus  populi  suprema  lex  esto."     (The  Twelve  Tables, 
quoted  by  Cicero)  III,  3. 

Let  the  good  of  the  people  be  the  paramount  law. 

Licet  videre,  qualescumque  summi  civitatis  viri  fuerunt, 
talem  civitatem  fuisse :  quaecumque  mutatio  morum  in 
principibus  exstiterit,  eandem  in  populo  secuturam.  Ill,  14. 
Thou  mayest  plainly  see  that  such  as  the  chief  men  of  the  state 
have  been,  such  also  has  been  the  character  of  the  state;  and 
whatever  change  of  manners  took  place  in  the  former,  the  same 
always  followed  in  the  latter. 

Id  haud  paullo  est  verius  quam  quod  Platoni  nostro  placet 
qui,  musicorum  cantibus,  ait,  mutatis,  mutari  civitatum 
status.    Ill,  14. 

This  observation  is  much  more  certain  than  that  of  Plato,  who 
pretends  that  a  change  in  the  songs  of  musicians  is  able  to  change 
the  feelings  and  conditions  of  a  state. 

Nam  ego  in  ista  sum  sententia,  qua  te  fuisse  semper  scio, 

nihil  ut  fuerit  in  suffragiis  voce  melius.    Ill,  15. 

For  I  am  of  the  same  opinion  as  you  have  always  been,  that 
open,  "viva  voce"  voting  is  the  best  method  at  elections. 

Quamobrem  suffraganda  nimia  libido  in  non  bonis  causis 
eripienda  fuit  potentibus,  non  latebra  danda  populo,  in 
qua,  bonis  ignorantibus,  quid  quisque  sentiret,  tabella 
vitiosum  occultaret  suffragium.  Itaque  isti  rationi  neque 
lator  quisquam  est  inventus,  nee  auctor  umquam  bonus. 
Ill,  15. 

Wherefore  the  powerful  ought  rather  to  have  been  deprived 
of  their  power  of  influencing  votes  for  bad  purposes,  than  that  the 
ballot  should  have  been  conferred  on  the  people,  whereby  corrupt 
votes  are  concealed,  virtuous  citizens  being  left  in  the  dark  as  to 
the  sentiments  of  each.  Wherefore  no  good  man  has  ever  been 
found  to  bring  forward  or  propose  such  a  law. 

Excitabat  enim  fluctus  in  simpulo.    ill,  16. 
For  he  used  to  raise  a  storm  in  a  teapot. 

Nam  brevitas,  non  modo  senatoris  sed  etiam  oratoris, 
magna  laus  est  in  sententia.     Ill,  18. 

For  brevity  is  the  best  recommendation  of  a  speech,  not  only 
in  the  case  of  a  senator,  but  in  that,  too,  of  an  orator. 


DE  NATURA  DEORUM  493 


DE  NATURA  DEORUM 

Haud  scio  an  pietate  adversus  deos  sublata,  fides  etiam  De  Natura 
et  societas  generis  humani  et  una  excellentissima  virtus,   Deorum. 
justitia  tollatur.     1,  2. 

I  am  disposed  to  think  that  if  reverence  for  the  gods  were 
destroyed,  we  should  also  lose  honesty  and  the  brotherhood  of 
mankind,  and  that  most  excellent  of  all  virtues,  justice. 

Nec  vero  probare  soleo  id,  quod  de  Pythagoreis  accepi- 
mus:  quos  ferunt,  si  quid  anirmarent  in  disputando,  cum 
ex  iis  quaereretur,  quare  ita  esset,  respondere  solitos, 
"ipse  dixit;"  "ipse"  autem  erat  Pythagoras.    I,  5. 

Nor  am  I  accustomed  to  approve  of  that  which  we  have  heard 
about  the  Pythagoreans,  who  they  say  used  to  answer,  when  they 
made  an  assertion  in  discussing  a  subject,  if  they  were  asked  why 
it  was  so,  "He  himself  has  said  it."  Now  this  "he"  was 
Pythagoras. 

Non  enim  tarn  auctoritatis  in  disputando,  quam  rationis 
momenta  quaerenda  sunt.    I,  5. 

We  should  in  discussion  rather  seek  force  of  argument  than 
of  authority. 

Non  enim  hominum  interitu  sententiae  quoque  occidunt, 
sed  lucem  auctoris  fortasse  desiderant.    I,  5. 

A  man's  utterances  do  not  die  with  him,  but  they  lose,  perhaps, 
something  of  the  brilliancy  with  which  he  endowed  them. 

In  omnium  animis  deorum  notionem  impressit  ipsa 
natura.  Quae  est  enim  gens,  aut  quod  genus  hominum, 
quod  non  habeat  sine  doctrina  anticipationem  quandam 
deorum?    1,  16. 

Nature  herself  has  imprinted  on  the  minds  of  all  the  idea  of  a 
God.  For  what  nation  or  race  of  men  is  there  that  has  not,  even 
without  being  taught,  some  idea  of  a  God? 

Quae  enim  nobis  natura  informationem  deorum  ipsorum 
dedit,  eadem  insculpsit  in  mentibus,  ut  eos  aeternos,  et 
beatos  haberemus.    I,  17. 

For  the  same  nature,  which  has  given  to  us  a  knowledge  of  the 
gods,  has  imprinted  on  our  minds  that  they  are  eternal  and  happy. 


494  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeNatura      Beatus  autem  esse  sine  virtute  nemo  potest.     I,  18. 


Deorum.  No  one  can  be  happy  without  virtue. 


In  animi  securitate  vitam  beatam  ponimus.    I,  20. 
We  posit  a  happy  life  in  tranquillity  of  mind. 

Quis  non  timeat  omnia  providentem,   et  cogitantem,   et 
animadvertentem,  eum.     I,  20. 

Who  should  not  fear  God,  who  foresees,  considers,  and  per- 
ceives all  things? 

Ut  tragici  poetae,  quum  explicare  argumenti  exitum  non 
potestis,  confugitis  ad  deum.    I,  20. 

Like  the  tragic  poets,  when  you  cannot  work  out  your  denoue- 
ment satisfactorily,  you  call  the  Deity  to  your  aid. 


Quanto  diutius  considero,  tanto  mihi  res  videtur  obscurior. 
I,  22   (Simonides  to  Hiero.) 

The  more  I  think  over  the  matter,  the  more  difficult  of  com 
prehension  it  seems  to  me. 


Utinam  tarn  facile  vera  invenire  possim  quam  falsa  con 
vincere.     I,  32. 

Would  that  it  were  as  easy  for  me  to  find  the  true  as  to  detect 
the  false! 

Ut  Ennius :  "Simia  quam  similis,  turpissima  bestia,  nobis !" 

1.35- 
As  Ennius  says:   "How  like  to  us  is  that  filthy  beast  the  ape!" 

Superstitio,  in  qua  inest  inanis  timor  Dei;  religio,  quae 
Dei  cultu  pio  continetur.    I,  42. 

Superstition  is  a  senseless  fear  of  God,  religion  the  pious  wor- 
ship of  God. 

Opinionis  enim  commenta  delet  dies,  naturae  judicia  con- 
firmat.     II,  2,  7. 

Time    effaces   the   utterances   of   opinion,    and   confirms   the 
judgments  of  nature. 

Quid  potest  esse  tarn  apertum,  tamque  perspicuum,  cum 
coelum  suspeximus,  coelestiaque  contemplati  sumus,  quam 


DE  NATURA  DEO  RUM  495 

esse   aliquod  numen   praestantissimae   mentis,   quo   haec  DeNatura 
regantur?  Deorum. 

Quod  qui  dubitet,  haud  sane  intelligo,  cur  non  idem,  sol 
sit,  an  nullus  sit,  dubitare  possit.     Quid  enim  est  hoc  illo 
evidentius?     Quod  nisi  cognitum  comprehensumque  ani- 
mis  haberemus,  non  tarn  stabilis  opinio  permaneret,  nee 
confirmaretur,  diuturnitate  temporis,  nee  una  cum  seculis 
aetatibusque  hominum  inveterare  potuisset.    Etenim  vide- 
mus,   caeteras  opiniones  fictas   atque  vanas   diuturnitate 
extabuisse.     Quis  enim  hippocentaurum   fuisse,   aut  chi- 
maeram  putat?  quaeve  anus  tarn  excors  inveniri  potest, 
quae  ilia,  quae  quondam  credebantur  apud  inferos  por- 
!  tenta,  extimescat?    Opinionum  enim  commenta  delet  dies: 
naturae  judicia  confirmat.     Itaque  et  in  nostro  populo,  et 
i  in  caeteris,  deorum  cultus  religionumque  sanctitates  exist- 
|unt  in  dies  majores,  atque  meliores.     II,  2. 

When   we  view   the   heavens,    and   contemplate   the   celestial 
bodies,  can  anything  be  plainer,  or  appear  with  clearer  evidence, 
I  than  that  there  is  a  Deity  of  most  consummate  wisdom,  by  whom 
)  they  are  governed  ?     He  that  entertains  any  doubt  of  this  may, 
in  my  opinion,   with   equal   reason,   doubt   the   existence   of   the 
I  sun.     For,  wherein  is  the  one  more  evident  than  the  other?     Had 
;  not  mankind  been  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  truth  of  this  opin- 
;  ion,  it  could  never  have  acquired  so  firm  a  footing,  never  have 
been  able  to  make  its  way  through  so  many  ages  and  generations, 
nor  to  have  gained  new  confirmation  by  length  of  time:  for  we 
see  that  all  other  vain  and  fictitious  notions  are  at  length  quite 
exploded.     Who  now  believes  there  ever  was  an  hippocentaur, 
or  chimera?     Or  where  is  the  old  wife  so  stupidly  silly  as  to 
dread  the  infernal  monsters  that  were  heretofore  believed  to  exist? 
For  time,  which   effaces   all   feigned   hypotheses,   establishes  and 
confirms  the  judgments  of  nature.     Hence  it  is,  that  the  venera- 
tion paid  the  divine  beings,  and  the  sacred  rites  of  religion,  both 
with  us,  and  among  other  nations,  daily  gain  ground  and  improve. 

Aegri   quia   non   omnes   convalescent,    idcirco   ars   nulla 
medicina  est.     II,  4. 

Because  all  the  sick  do  not  recover,  therefore  medicine  is  no  art. 

tSuperstitiones  paene  aniles.     11,  28. 
Almost  old  wives'  superstitions. 

Cultus  autem  deorum,  est  optimus,  idemque  castissimus, 
atque  sanctissimus,  plenissimusque  pietatis,  ut  eos  semper 


496  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeNatura      pura,  integra,  incorrupta,  et  mente,  et  voce  veneremur; 

Deomm.         non  enim  philosophi  solum,  verum  etiam  majores  nostri 
superstitionem  a  religione  separaverunt.    II,  28. 

The  best,  the  purest,  the  most  holy  worship  of  the  gods,  and 
that  which  is  most  consistent  with  our  duty,  is  to  worship  them 
always  with  purity  and  sincerity  of  words  and  thoughts;  for  not 
only  philosophers,  but  even  our  ancestors  have  drawn  a  distinction 
between  superstition  and  religion. 

Nihil  est  praestantius  deo;  ab  eo  igitur  necesse  est  mun- 
dum  regi.  Nulli  igitur  est  naturae  obediens  aut  subjectus 
deus.    Omnem  ergo  regit  ipse  naturam.    11,  30. 

Nothing  is  superior  to  God;  he  must  therefore  govern  the 
world.  God  is  subject  to  no  principle  of  nature,  therefore  he 
rules  the  whole  of  nature. 

Meliora  sunt  ea,  quae  natura,  quam  ilia,  quae  arte  per- 
fecta  sunt.    II,  34. 

Those  things  which  are  perfected  by  nature  are  better  than  those 
things  which  are  finished  by  art. 

Ex  quo  eventurum  nostri  putant  id,  de  quo  Panaetium 
addubitare  dicebant,  ut  ad  extremum  omnis  mundus 
ignesceret.     11,  46. 

From  which  some  philosophers  think  that  that  will  happen 
which  Panaetius  doubts,  that  the  whole  world  will  at  last  be 
burnt  up. 

Oculi,  tanquam  speculatores,  altissimum  locum  obtinent. 
II,  56. 

The  eyes,  like  sentinels,  occupy  the  highest  place  in  the  body. 

Deus  homines  humo  excitatos,  celsos,  et  erectos  constituit, 
ut  deorum  cognitionem  coelum  intuentes,  capere  possent. 
Sunt  enim  homines  non  ut  incolae,  atque  habitatores^  sed, 
quasi  spectatores  superarum  rerum,  atque  coelestium, 
quarum  spectaculum  ad  nullum  aliud  genus  animantium 
pertinet.    II,  $6. 

God  has  made  men,  springing  from  the  ground,  tall  and  up-' 
right,  that,  with  eyes  looking  to  heaven,  they  might  acquire  a 
knowledge  of  the  Divine  Being.  For  men  are  not  to  consider 
themselves  as  mere  dwellers  on  earth,  but  as  it  were  placed  there 
to  gaze  on  the  heavens  and  heavenly  bodies,  which  is  the  privilege 
of  no  other  animated  creature. 


DE  NATURA  DEORUM  497 

Jam  vero  domina  rerum  (ut  vos  soletis  dicere)  eloquendi  DeNatwa 
vis,  quam  est  praeclara,  quamque  divina!  quae  primum  Diorum. 
efficit,  ut  ea,  quae  ignoramus,  discere  et  ea,  quae  scimus, 
alios  docere  possimus.  Deinde  hac  cohortamur,  hac  per- 
suademus,  hac  consolamur  afflictos,  hac  deducimus  per- 
territos  a  timore,  hac  gestientes  comprimimus,  hac  cupidi- 
tates,  iracundiasque  restinguimus ;  haec  nos  juris,  legum, 
urbium  societate  devinxit:  haec  a  vita  immani,  et  fera 
segregavit.    II,  59. 

How  noble  and  divine  is  eloquence!  the  mistress  of  all  things, 
as  you  are  accustomed  to  say.  Which,  in  the  first  place,  enables 
us  to  learn  those  things  of  which  we  are  ignorant,  and  to  teach 
others  those  things  which  we  know;  by  this  we  exhort;  by  this 
we  persuade ;  by  this  we  console  the  afflicted ;  by  this  we  dissipate 
the  fears  of  the  timid;  by  this  we  restrain  the  eager;  by  this  we 
put  an  end  to  passions  and  desires;  it  is  this  that  has  bound  man- 
kind by  the  community  of  privileges,  of  laws,  and  civil  society; 
this  it  is  which  has  removed  us  far  from  the  ills  of  a  savage  and 
barbarous  life. 

Terrenorum    item   commodorum   omnis   est   in   homine 

dominatus.  Nos  campis,  nos  montibus  fruimur:  nostri 
,  sunt  amnes,  nostri  lacus:  nos  fruges  serimus,  nos  arbores: 

nos  aquarum  inductionibus  terris  foecunditatem  damus; 
,  nos  flumina  arcemus,  dirigimus,  avertimus:  nostris  denique 
,  manibus  in  rerum  natura  quasi  alteram  naturam  efficere 
1  conamur.    II,  60. 

Everything  that  the  earth  produces  belongs  to  man:  we  enjoy 
[  the  fields  and  the  mountains;  ours  are  the  rivers  and  the  lakes; 
\  we  sow  corn  and  plant  trees;  we  give  fruitfulness  to  the  earth  by 
j  irrigating  the  ground;  we  confine,  direct,  and  turn  the  course  of 

rivers;  in  short,  by  our  proceedings  we  endeavor  to  form,  as  it 
f  were,  a  second  nature. 

I  Nemo  vir  magnus  sine  aliquo  afflatu  divino  umquam  fuit. 
II,  66. 

No  man  was  ever  great  without  divine  inspiration. 

Perspicuitas  enim  argumentatione  elevatur.    Ill,  4. 

The  clearest  subjects  are  often  obscured  by  lengthened  reasoning. 

Nee  fabellas  aniles  proferas.     Ill,  5. 
Do  not  tell  us  your  old  wives'  tales. 


498  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeNatura      Saepe  ne  utile  quidem  est  scire,  quid  futurum  sit;  miserum 
Deorum.         est  enim,  nihil  proficientem  angi.     Ill,  6. 

Often  it  is  disadvantageous  to  know  what  is  to  happen;  for  it 
is  wretched  to  be  grieved  without  the  power  of  changing  events. 

Callidos  esse  appello,  quorum  tanquam  manus  opere,  sic 
animus  usu  concalluit.     Ill,  10. 

I  call  those  experienced  whose  minds  are  strengthened  by 
knowledge,  as  the  hands  are  hardened  by  labor. 

Justitia  suum  cuique  distribuit.     Ill,  15. 
Justice  renders  to  everyone  his  due. 

Fortunam  nemo  ab  inconstantia  et  temeritate  sejunget. 
Ill,  24. 

No  one  will  separate  fortune  from  inconstancy  and  rashness. 

Malitia  est  versuta  et  fallax  ratio  nocendi.     Ill,  30. 
Malice  is  a  subtle  and  deceitful  engine  to  work  mischief. 

Virtutem  nemo  unquam  acceptam  deo  retulit.    Ill,  36. 

No  one  has  ever  acknowledged  having  received  virtue  from  a 
god. 

Num  quis,  quod  bonus  vir  esset,  gratias  diis  egit  unquam? 
At  quod  dives,  quod  honoratus,  quod  incolumis.     Ill,  36.  , 

Who  was  ever  known  to  thank  the  gods  for  virtue?  But  for 
wealth,  for  honor,  for  safety,  many. 

Judicium  hoc  omnium   mortalium   est,   fortunam   a   deo 
petendam,  a  se  ipso  sumendam  esse  sapientiam.     Ill,  36. 
It  is  the  universal  opinion   that  we  may  pray  the  gods  for 
fortune,  but  must  provide  ourselves  with  wisdom. 

DE  OFFICIIS 

De  Officii*.  Fortis  vero,  dolorem  summum  malum  judicans;  aut  tern-' 
perans,  voluptatem  summum  bonum  statuens,  esse  certe 
nullo  modo  potest.     I,  2. 

No  man  can  be  brave  who  considers  pain  to  be  the  greatesl 
evil  of  life,  nor  temperate  who  considers  pleasure  to  be  the  highesi- 
good. 


DE  OFFICIIS  499 

Nulla   enim  vitae   pars  neque  publicis,   neque  privatis;  DeOffidis. 
neque   forensibus,   neque   domesticis   in   rebus;  neque   si 
tecum  agas  quid,  neque  si  cum  altero  contrahas,  vacare 
officio  potest:  in  eoque  et  colendo  sita  vitae  est  honestas 
omnis,  et  in  negligendo  turpitude     I,  2. 

There  is  no  kind  of  life,  whether  we  are  transacting  public  or 
private  affairs,  at  home  or  abroad  —  those  in  which  we  are  alone 
concerned  or  with  others  —  that  is  free  of  obligations.  In  the 
due  discharge  of  these  consists  all  the  dignity,  and  in  their  neglect 
all  the  disgrace,  of  life. 

Sed  inter  hominem,  et  beluam  hoc  maxime  interest,  quod 
haec  tantum,  quantum  sensu  movetur,  ad  id  solum,  quod 
adest,  quodque  praesens  est,  se  accommodat,  paulum 
admodum  sentiens  praeteritum,  aut  futurum.  Homo 
autem,  quod  rationis  est  particeps,  per  quam  consequentia 
cernit,  causas  rerum  videt,  earumque  progressus,  et  quasi 
antecessiones  non  ignorat,  similitudines  comparat,  et  rebus 
praesentibus  adjungit,  atque  annectit  futuras:  facile  totius 
vitae  cursum  videt,  ad  eamque  degendam  praeparat  res 
necessarias.     I,  4. 

Between  man  and  the  lower  animals  there  is  this  great  distinc- 
tion, that  the  latter,  moved  by  instinct,  look  only  to  the  present 
and  what  is  before  them,  paying  but  little  attention  to  the  past  or 
the  future.  Whereas  man,  from  being  endued  with  reason,  by 
means  of  which  he  sees  before  and  after  him,  discovers  the  causes 
of  events  and  their  progress,  is  not  ignorant  of  their  antecedents, 
is  able  to  compare  analogies,  and  to  join  the  future  to  the  present ; 
so  he  easily  sees  before  his  mind's  eye  the  whole  path  of  life,  and 
;  prepares  things  necessary  for  passing  along  it. 

'  Imprimisque  hominis  est  propria   veri   inquisitio   atque 
investigatio.    I,  4. 

The  first  duty  of  man  is  the  seeking  after  and  investigation  of 
truth. 

Formam  quidem  ipsam,  Marce  fili,  et  tanquam  faciem 
honesti  vides;  quae  si  oculis  cerneretur,  mirabiles  amores 
excitaret  sapientiae.     I,  5. 

Thou  seest,  my  son  Marcus,  the  very  form  and  features,  as  it 
were,  of  virtue ;  and  could  it  only  be  beheld  by  our  eyes,  it  would 
rouse  in  us  a  wonderful  love  of  wisdom. 


500  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeOfficiis.  Omnes  enim  trahimur  et  duclmur  ad  cognitionis,  et  scien- 
tiae  cupiditatem :  in  qua  excellere  pulchrum  putamus :  labi 
autem,  errare,  nescire,  decipi,  et  malum,  et  turpe  ducimus. 
1,6. 

We  are  all  drawn  and  attracted  to  the  desire  of  knowledge 
and  learning,  in  which  we  think  it  honorable  to  excel ;  but  to  make 
mistakes  and  to  be  ignorant  we  regard  as  base  and  disgraceful. 

Virtutis  enim  laus  omnis  in  actione  consistit.     I,  6. 
The  whole  merit  of  virtue  consists  in  the  practice  of  virtue. 

Sed  quoniam  (ut  praeclare  scriptum  est  a  Platone)   non 
nobis  solum  nati  sumus,  ortusque  nostri  partem  patria 
vindicat,  partem  amici:  atque  (ut  placet  Stoicis)  quae  in  \ 
terris  gignantur,  ad  usum  hominum  omnia  creari,  homines  I 
autem  hominum  causa  esse  generatos,  ut  ipsi  inter  se,  aliis  J 
alii  prodesse  possent:   in  hoc  naturam   debemus  ducem 
sequi,  communes  utilitates  in  medium  afferre,  mutatione 
officiorum,   dando,   accipiendo :  turn   artibus,   turn  opera, 
turn     facultatibus     devincire     hominum     inter    homines 
societatem.    I,  7. 

But  seeing  (as  has  been  well  said  by  Plato)  we  have  not  been 
born  for  ourselves  alone,  but  that  our  country  claims  one  part  of  us, 
our  friends  another,  and,  as  the  Stoics  declare,  all  the  productions 
of  the  earth  have  been  created  for  the  use  of  men,  whereas  men 
are  born  in  order  that  they  should  assist  one  another:  in  this  we 
ought  to  follow  nature  as  our  guide,  to  bring  into  the  common 
stock  whatever  is  useful  by  an  interchange  of  good  offices,  at  one 
time  giving,  at  another  receiving,  to  bind  men  in  union  with  each 
other  by  arts,  by  industry,  and  by  all  the  faculties  of  our  mind. 

Fundamentum  autem  est  justitiae  fides,  id  est  dictorum 
conventorumque  constantia  et  Veritas.    I,  7. 

The  foundation  of  justice  is  good  faith ;  that  is  to  say,  a  true 
and  unswerving  adherence  to  promises  and  covenants. 

In  maximis  animis  splendidissimisque  ingeniis  plerumqw 
existunt,  honoris,  imperii,  potentiae,  gloriae  cupiditates 
1,8. 

In  men  of  the  highest  character  and  noblest  genius  there  gen 
erally  exists  insatiable  desire  of  honor,  command,  power,  and  glorj 


DE  OFFICIIS  501 

Nulla  sancta  societas  De  Officii*. 

Nee  fides  regni  est. 

[Ennius,  quoted  by  Cicero]  I,  8. 
There  is  no  holy  bond,  and  no  fidelity 
'Twixt  those  who  share  a  throne. 

Omnia  jura  divina  atque  humana  pervertit  propter  eum 
quern  sibi  ipse  opinionis  errore  finxerat  principatum.  I,  8 
[of  Caesar]. 

He  disregarded  all  laws,  human  and  divine,  in  pursuit  of  the 
dominion  which,  by  an  error  of  judgment,  he  had  allotted  to 
himself. 

Quocirca  bene  praecipiunt,  qui  vetant  quidquam  agere, 
quod  dubites,  aequum  sit,  an  iniquum.  Aequitas  enim 
lucet  ipsa  per  se:  dubitatio  cogitationem  significat  injuriae. 

I.  9- 

Wherefore  wisely  do  those  admonish  us  who  forbid  us  to  do 
anything  of  which  we  may  be  in  doubt,  whether  it  is  right  or 
wrong.  What  is  right  shines  with  unreflected  luster,  whereas 
hesitation  insinuates  a  suspicion  of  something  wrong. 

Fundamenta  justitiae:  primum,  ut  ne  cui  noceatur;  deinde, 
ut  communi  utilitati  serviatur.     1,  10. 

The  fundamental  principles  of  justice  are,  first,  that  no  injury 
f   be  done  to  anyone;    and,  secondly,  that  it  be  subservient  to  the 
public  good. 

1  Ex  quo  illud:  summum  jus,  summa  injuria;  factum  est 
\  jam  tritum  sermone  proverbium.     1,  10. 

Hence  "strictness  of  law  is  sometimes  extreme  injustice"  has 
passed  into  a  trite  proverb. 

■  Semper  in  fide  quid  senseris,  non  quid  dixeris,  cogitandum. 

;  I,  13- 

In  honorable  dealing  we  must  consider  what  we  intended,  not 
what  we  said. 

.... 

Autem  injustitiae  nulla  capitalior  est,  quam  eorum,  qui 

j  turn  cum  maxime   fallunt,   id  agunt,   ut  viri  boni   esse 
videantur.    I,  13. 

In  acts  of  wickedness  there  is  nothing  greater  than  that  of 
those  who,  when  they  deceive,  so  manage  that  they  seem  to  be 
virtuous  and  upright  men. 


502  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  Officii*.      Meminerimus  etiam  adversus  infimos  justitiam  esse  ser- 
vandam.     I,  13. 

Let  us  remember  that  justice  must  also  be  observed  even  to 
inferiors. 

Qui  aliis  nocent,  ut  in  alios  liberates  sint,  in  eadem  sunt 
injustitia,  ut  si  in  suam  rem  aliena  convertant.     I,  14. 

Those  who  injure  some  to  benefit  others  are  acting  as  wrong- 
fully as  if  they  were  turning  other  persons'  property  to  their 
own  use. 

Multi  enim  faciunt  multa  temeritate  quadam,  sine  judicio, 
vel  modo,  in  omnes,  vel  repentino  quodam,  quasi  vento, 
impetu  animi  incitati :  quae  beneficia  aeque  magna  non 
sunt  habenda,  atque  ea,  quae  judicio,  considerate,  con- 
stanterque  delata  sunt.  Sed  in  collocando  beneficio,  et 
in  referenda  gratia,  si  cetera  paria  sint,  hoc  maxime  officii 
est,  ut  quisque  maxime  opis  indigeat,  ita  ei  potissimum 
opitulari :  quod  contra  fit  a  plerisque.  A  quo  enim  pluri- 
mum  sperant,  etiamsi  ille  his  non  eget,  tamen  ei  potissi- 
mum inserviunt.    I,  15. 

For  many  men  act  recklessly  and  without  judgment,  conferring 
favors  upon  all,  incited  to  it  by  a  sudden  impetuosity  of  mind: 
the  kindnesses  of  these  men  are  not  to  be  regarded  in  the  same 
light  or  of  the  same  value  as  those  which  are  conferred  with 
judgment  and  deliberation.  But  in  the  conferring  and  requiting 
of  a  favor,  if  other  things  be  equal,  it  is  the  duty  of  a  man  to 
assist  where  it  is  most  required.  The  very  opposite  of  this  often 
takes  place,  for  men  assist  those  from  whom  they  hope  to  receive 
in  return,  even  though  they  do  not  require  it. 

Nullum  enim  officium  referenda  gratia  magis  necessarium 
est.    I,  15. 

There  is  no  duty  more  obligatory  than  the  repayment  of  a 
kindness. 

Demus,  necne,  in  nostra  potestate  est;  non  reddere,  viro 
bono  non  licet,  modo  id  facere  possit  sine  injuria.  1,  i5« 
Whether  we  give  or  not  is  for  us  to  decide,  but  no  honest  man 
may  refuse  to  pay  back,  provided  he  can  do  so  without  prejudice 
to  others. 


DE  OFFICIIS  503 

Ratio  et  oratio  conciliant  inter  se  homines.     Neque  ulla  DeOfficiis. 
re  longius  absumus  a  natura  ferarum.     I,  16. 

It  is  reason  and  speech  that  unite  men  to  each  other;  nor  is 
there  anything  else  in  which  we  differ  so  entirely  from  the  brute 
creation. 

Pati  ab  igne  ignem  capere,  si  quis  velit.     I,  16. 
Let  who  will  light  his  fire  from  yours. 

Prima  societas  in  ipso  conjugio  est:  proxima  in  liberis: 
deinde  una  domus,  communia  omnia.     I,  17. 

The  first  bond  of  society  is  the  marriage  tie:  the  next  our 
children;  then  the  whole  family  of  our  house,  and  all  things  in 
common. 

Sed  cum  omnia  ratione,  animoque  lustraris,  omnium  socie- 
tatum  nulla  est  gravior,  nulla  carior,  quam  ea,  quae  cum 
republica  est  unicuique  nostrum :  cari  sunt  parentes,  cari 
liberi,  propinqui,  familiares:  sed  omnes  omnium  caritates 
patria  una  complexa  est:  pro  qua  quis  bonus  dubitet 
mortem  oppetere,  si  ei  sit  profuturus?     I,   17. 

But,  when  thou  considerest  everything  carefully  and  thought- 
fully, of  all  societies  none  is  of  more  importance,  none  more  dear 
than  that  which  unites  us  with  the  commonwealth.  Our  parents, 
children,  relations,  and  neighbors  are  dear,  but  our  fatherland 
embraces  the  whole  round  of  these  endearments;  in  defense  of 
which,  who  would  not  dare  to  die  if  only  he  could  assist  it? 

Qui  ex  errore  imperitae  multitudinis  pendet,  hie  in  magnis 
viris  non  est  habendus.     I,  19. 

That  man  is  not  to  be  considered  among  the  great  who  depends 
on  the  errors  of  the  foolish  multitude. 

Facillime  autem  ad  res  injustas  impellitur,  ut  quisque  est 
altissimo  animo,  et  gloriae  cupiditate.  Qui  locus  est  sane 
lubricus,  quod  vix  invenitur,  qui,  laboribus  susceptis,  peri- 
culisque  aditis,  non  quasi  mercedem  rerum  gestarum 
desiderat  gloriam.    I,  19. 

The  man  who  is  of  the  highest  spirit  and  most  influenced  by 
the  desire  of  glory  is  most  easily  excited  to  the  commission  of 
injustice.  Such  a  position  is  indeed  of  a  slippery  character,  for 
there  is  scarcely  to  be  found  a  man  who,  when  he  has  undertaken 


504  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  Officiis.      labors  and  undergone  dangers,  does  not  look  to  glory  as  their 
reward. 

Nihil  enim  honestum  esse  potest  quod  justitia  vacat.  I,  19. 
Right  cannot  be  where  justice  is  not. 

Multi  autem  et  sunt,  et  fuerunt,  qui  earn,  quam  dico, 
tranquillitatem  expetentes,  a  negotiis  publicis  se  remove- 

rint,  ad  otium  que  perfugerint His  idem  proposi- 

tum  fuit,  quod  regibus,  ut  ne  qua  re  egerent,  ne  cui  pare- 
rent,  libertate  uterentur:  cujus  proprium  est,  sic  vivere, 
ut  velis.  Quare,  cum  hoc  commune  sit  potentiae  cupido- 
rum  cum  iis,  quos  dixi,  otiosis :  alteri  se  adipisci  id  posse 
arbitrantur,  si  opes  magnas  habeant;  alteri,  si  contend 
sint  et  suo,  et  parvo.  In  quo  neutrorum  omnino  con- 
temnenda  est  sententia :  sed  et  facilior,  et  tutior,  et  minus 
aliis  gravis,  aut  molesta  vita  est  otiosorum:  fructuosioi 
autem  hominum  generi,  et  ad  claritatem,  amplitudinemque 
aptior  eorum,  qui  se  ad  rempublicam  et  ad  res  magnas 
gerendas  accomodaverunt.     I,  20,  21. 

There  are,  and  have  been,  many  men  who,  desiring  that  life  of 
tranquillity  which  I  have  been  describing,  have  retired  from  public 
affairs,  and  devoted  themselves  to  the  pleasures  of  private  life. 
These  have  had  the  same  object  in  view  as  men  in  high  rank  — 
namely,  that  they  should  stand  in  need  of  nothing,  be  the  slave 
of  no  one,  enjoy  perfect  liberty;  the  peculiar  characteristic  of 
which  kind  of  life  is,  that  a  man  lives  according  to  his  own  Mill 
and  pleasure.  Wherefore,  since  those  desirous  of  power  have 
this  in  common  with  those  lovers  of  retirement  whom  I  have 
described,  the  one  think  they  are  able  to  obtain  it  by  the  posses- 
sion of  great  wealth,  and  the  other  by  being  content  with  their  1 
own  small  competency.  The  idea  of  neither  of  these  is  to  be  j 
altogether  disregarded,  but  the  life  of  the  inactive  is  easier,  safer, 
less  burdensome  and  annoying  to  others,  whereas  those,  who 
devote  themselves  to  public  life  and  the  management  of  great 
affairs  are  more  advantageous  to  mankind,  and  rise  to  greater 
glory  and  honor. 

Nihil  est  tarn  angusti  animi,  tamque  parvi,  quam  amare 
divitias:  nihil  honestius,  magnificentiusque,  quam  pecu- 
niam  contemnere,  si  non  habeas:  si  habeas,  ad  beneficien-; 
tiam,  liberalitatemque  conferre.     I,  20. 

Nothing  is  a  greater  proof  of  a  narrow  and  grovelling  dispo- 
sition than  to  be  fond  of  riches,  while  nothing  is  more  noble  and 


DE  OFFICIIS  505 

exalted  than  to  despise  money,  if  thou  hast  it  not ;  and  if  thou  hast   De  Officiis. 
it,  to  employ  it  in  acts  of  beneficence  and  liberality. 

In  omnibus  negotiis,  prius,  quam  aggrediare,  adhibenda 
est  praeparatio  diligens.    1,  21. 

In  all  affairs,  before  thou  undertakest  them  a  diligent  prepara- 
tion should  be  made. 

Parvi  enim  sunt  foris  arma,  nisi  est  consilium  domi.    I,  22. 
Of  little  value  is  valor  abroad,  unless  there  be  wise  counsels 
at  home. 

Cedant  arma  togae,  concedat  laurea  laudi.     1,  22. 

Let  the  sword  yield  to  the  gown,  let  the  laurel  give  place  to 
honest  worth. 

Fortis  vero  et  constantis  est,  non  perturbari  in  rebus 
asperis,  nee  tumultuantem  de  gradu  dejici,  ut  dicitur;  sed 
praesentis  animi  uti  consilio,  nee  a  ratione  discedere.  I,  23. 
It  is  the  character  of  a  brave  and  resolute  man  not  to  be  ruffled 
with  adversity  and  not  to  be  in  such  confusion  as  to  desert  his 
post,  as  we  say,  but  to  preserve  presence  of  mind  and  the  exercise 
of  reason  without  departing  from  his  purpose. 

Cum  tempus,  necessitasque  postulat,  decertandum  manu 
est,  et  mors  servituti,  turpitudinique  anteponenda.     I,  23. 
When  time  and  necessity  require  it,  we  should  resist  with  all 
our  might,  and  prefer  death  to  slavery  and  disgrace. 

Quamquam  hoc  animi,  illud  etiam  ingenii  magni  est, 
praecipere  cogitatione  futura,  et  aliquanto  ante  consti- 
tuere,  quid  accidere  possit  in  utramque  partem:  et,  quid 
agendum  sit,  cum  quid  evenerit;  nee  committere,  ut 
aliquando  dicendum  sit,  Non  putaram.  Haec  sunt  opera 
>    magni  animi,  et  excelsi,  et  prudentia,  consilioque  fidentis. 

1,23. 

Though  the  one  is  a  proof  of  a  high  spirit,  the  other  is  that  of 

'    a  lofty  intellect  to  anticipate  coming  events  by  forethought,  and 

)    to  come  to  a  conclusion  somewhat  in  advance  of  what  may  possibly 

happen  in  either  case,  and  what  ought  to  be  done  in  that  event, 

and  not  to  be  obliged  sometimes  to  say,  "I  had  never  thought  it." 

These  are  the  acts  of  a  powerful  and  sagacious  mind,  one  who 

trusts  in  his  own  prudence  and  plans. 


506  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeOfficiis.      Bellum  autem  ita  suscipiatur,  ut  nihil  aliud  nisi  pax  quae- 
sita  videatur.     I,  23. 

We  should  so  enter  upon  war  as  to  show  that  our  only  desire 
is  peace. 

Est  viri  magni,  rebus  agitatis,  punire  sontes:  multitudinem 
conservare :  in  omni  fortuna,  recta,  atque  honesta  retinere. 
I,  24. 

It  is  the  duty  of  a  great  man,  in  a  revolutionary  age,  to  punish 
the  guilty,  to  be  kind  to  the  lower  orders,  and  in  all  states  of 
fortune  to  do  what  is  straightforward  and  honorable. 

Nunquam  periculi  fuga  committendum  est,  ut  imbelles 
timidique  videamur:  sed  fugiendum  etiam  illud,  ne  offera- 
mus  nos  periculis  sine  causa,  quo  nihil  potest  esse  stultius. 
I,  24. 

We  should  never  by  shunning  dangers  cause  ourselves  to  seem 
cowardly  and  timid,  but  we  should  also  avoid  unnecessarily  expos- 
ing ourselves  to  danger,  than  which  nothing  can  be  more  foolish. 

Nihil  enim  laudabilius,  nihil  magno  et  praeclaro  viro 
dignius  placabilitate  atque  dementia.     1,  25. 

Nothing  is  more  praiseworthy,  nothing  more  suited  to  a  great 
and  illustrious  man  than  placability  and  a  merciful  disposition. 

Cavendum  est  etiam  ne  major  poena  quam  culpa  sit,  et 
ne  iisdem  de  causis  alii  plectantur,  alii  ne  appellentur 
quidem.     I,  25. 

We  must  take  care  that  crimes  be  not  more  severely  punished 
than   they  deserve,   and  that  one  should  not  be   punished   for  a  \ 
fault,  respecting  which  another  is  not  even  called  in  question. 


Prohibenda  autem  maxime  est  ira  in  puniendo,  numquam  1 
enim,  iratus  qui  accedet  ad  poenam,  mediocritatem  illamj 
tenebit,  quae  est  inter  nimium  et  parum.     I,  25. 

Above  all  things  in  punishing  we  must  guard  against  passion ;  ■, 
for  the  man  who  is  in  a  passion  will  never  observe  the  mean« 
between  too  much  and  too  little. 

Cavendum  est  etiam,  ne  major  poena,  quam  culpa  sit;  et! 
ne  iisdem  de  caussis  alii  plectantur,  alii  ne  appellentur 
quidem.    I,  25. 


DE  OFFICIIS  507 

We  must  take  care  that  the  punishment  is  not  in  excess  of  the    De  Officii*. 
crime,  and  that  it  is  not  inflicted  on  some  only,  while  others  equally 
guilty  are  not  even  brought  to  trial. 

In  rebus  prosperis,  ....  superbiam,  fastidium,  arro- 
gantiamque  magno  opere  fugiamus.     I,  26. 

In  prosperity  let  us  particularly  avoid  pride,  disdain,  and 
arrogance. 

Recte  praecipere  videntur,  qui  monent,  ut  quanto  supe- 
riores  sumus,  tanto  nos  geramus  summissius.    I,  26. 

Rightly  do  those  teach  who  admonish  us  that  we  should  be  the 
more  humble  in  proportion  to  our  high  rank. 

Ut  adversas  res,  secundas  immoderate  ferre,  levitatis  est. 
I,  26. 

It  shows  a  weak  mind  not  to  bear  adversity  and  prosperity 
with  moderation. 

Negligere  quid  de  se  quisque  sentiat,  non  solum  arrogantis 
est,  sed  etiam  omnino  dissoluti.    I,  28. 

To  pay  no  attention  to  what  is  said  of  one,  is  a  mark  not  of 
pride  only,  but  of  complete  want  of  principle. 

Efficiendum  est  ut  appetitus  rationi  obediant  eamque 
neque  praecurrant  nee  propter  pigritiam  aut  ignaviam 
deserant,  sintque  tranquilli  atque  omni  perturbatione 
animi  careant.    I,  29. 

We  must  take  care  that  our  appetites  be  obedient  to  reason, 
neither  outrunning  it  nor  lagging  behind  from  sluggishness  or 
languor,  and  that  these  be  in  a  state  of  tranquillity,  and  free  from 
all  disturbing  influences. 

Facilis  igitur  est  distinctio  ingenui  et  illiberalis  joci,  alter 
est,  si  tempore  fit,  ac  remisso  animo,  libero  dignus:  alter 
ne  homine  quidem,  si  rerum  turpitudini  adhibetur  verbo- 
rum  obscoenitas.    I,  29. 

The  distinction  between  a  delicate  witticism  and  a  low,  rude 
joke  is  very  perceptible;  the  former  may  be  indulged  in,  if  it  be 
seasonable,  and  in  hours  of  relaxation,  by  a  virtuous  man;  the 
latter,  if  indecent  gestures  and  obscenity  of  language  be  used,  is 
unworthy  even  of  a  human  being. 


508  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeOffidis.  Ludendi  etiam  est  quidam  modus  retinendus,  ut  ne  nimis 
omnia  profundamus,  elatique  voluptate  in  aliquam  turpi- 
tudinem  delabamur.     I,  29. 

There  is  a  certain  limit  to  be  observed  even  in  our  amusements, 
that  we  do  not  abandon  ourselves  too  much  to  a  life  of  pleasure, 
and,  carried  away  by  such  a  life,  sink  into  immorality. 

Ludo  autem,  et  joco  uti  illo  quidem  licet:  sed  sicut  somno, 
et  quietibus  ceteris  turn  cum  gravibus,  seriisque  rebus 
satisfecerimus.     I,  29. 

Sport  and  merriment  are  at  times  allowable ;  but  we  must  enjoy 
them  as  we  do  sleep  and  other  kinds  of  repose  —  when  we  have 
performed  our  weighty  and  important  affairs. 

Neque  enim  ita  generati  a  natura  sumus,  ut  ad  ludum  et 
jocum  facti  esse  videamur;  sed  ad  severitatem  potius,  et 
ad  quaedam  studia  graviora  et  majora.     I,  29. 

Nature  has  not,  in  man,  produced  a  being  apparently  fitted  only 
for  sport  and  jest,  but  one  destined  for  more  serious  things,  foi 
higher  and  nobler  pursuits. 

Hominis  mens  discendo  alitur  et  cogitando  semper  aliquid 
aut  anquirit  aut  agit,  videndique  et  audiendi  delectatione 
ducitur.     I,  30. 

The  mind  of  man  is  improved  by  learning  and  reflection;  it  is  i 
always  searching  into  or  doing  something,  and  is  led  forward  by  " 
the  pleasurable  enjoyment  of  the  eye  and  the  ear. 

Veritatis  cultores,  fraudis  inimici.    I,  30. 
Followers  of  truth,  enemies  of  deceit. 

Id  enim  maxime  quemque  decet,  quod  est  cujusque  suum 
maxime.     I,  31. 

A  man's  own  manner  and  character  is  what  best  becomes  him. 

Ex  quo  magis  emergit,  quale  sit  decorum  illud,  ideo,  quia 
nihil  decet  invita  (ut  ajunt)  Minerva,  id  est  adversante, 
et  repugnante  natura.     I,  31. 

Hence  it  is  the  more  evident  in  what  the  graceful  consists,  on 
this  account,  because  there  is  nothing  becoming  which  goes  against 
the  grain  (as  is  the  proverb)  — that  is  to  say,  when  nature  resists 
and  opposes. 


DE  OFFICIIS  509 

Sic  enim  est  faciendum,  ut  contra  universam  naturam  nihil  DeOfficiis. 
contendamus :    ea   tamen   conservata   propriam    nostram 
sequamur;  ut,  etiam  si  sint  alia  graviora  atque  meliora, 
tamen  nos  studia  nostra  nostrae  naturae  regula  metiamur. 

In  all  that  we  do  we  should  avoid  going  contrary  to  nature, 
but  with  that  reservation  we  should  follow  our  own  bent ;  so  that, 
though  other  pursuits  may  be  higher  and  nobler,  we  should  measure 
our  own  by  our  own  natural  capacity. 

Haec  differentia  naturarum  tantam  habet  vim,  ut  non- 
nunquam  mortem  sibi  ipse  consciscere  alius  debeat,  alius 
in  eadem  caussa  non  debeat.    1,  31. 

This  difference  in  men's  nature  is  so  powerful  in  its  operation, 
that  it  may  even  on  occasion  be  one  man's  duty  to  compass  his 
own  death,  while  the  same  circumstances  would  not  justify  another 
man  in  so  doing. 

Suum  quisque  igitur  noscat  ingenium,  acremque  se  et  bono- 
rum  et  vitiorum  suorum  judicem  praebeat;  ne  scenici  plus 
quam  nos  videantur  habere  prudentiae.     I,  31. 

Every  man  should  study  his  own  character,  and  constitute  him- 
self a  keen  judge  of  his  own  merits  and  demerits;  else  it  will  be 
said  that  the  dramatists  have  more  insight  than  we. 

In  primis  constituendum  est,  quos  nos  et  quales  esse 
velimus,  et  in  quo  genere  vitae:  quae  deliberatio  est 
omnium  difficillima.  Ineunte  autem  adolescentia,  cum 
est  maxima  imbecillitas  consilii,  turn  id  sibi  quisque  genus 
aetatis  degendae  constituit,  quod  maxime  adamavit;  itaque 
ante  implicatur  aliquo  certo  genere  cursuque  vivendi, 
quam  potuit,  quod  optimum  esset,  judicare.     I,  32. 

We  ought  particularly  to  determine  what  kind  of  characters 
we  wish  to  be,  and  what  is  to  be  the  course  of  our  life,  which  is  a 
matter  of  great  difficulty.  For  in  early  youth,  when  the  judgment 
is  weak,  everyone  selects  the  kind  of  life  which  he  prefers;  there- 
fore he  is  fixed  in  a  certain  definite  course  before  he  is  able  to 
judge  which  is  best  for  him. 

Illud  maxime  rarum  genus  est  eorum,  qui  aut  excellenti 

ingenii  magnitudine,  aut  praeclara  eruditione  atque  doc- 

1   trina,  aut  utraque  re  ornati,  spatium  deliberandi  habue- 

runt,  quern  potissimum  vitae  cursum  sequi  vellent.     I,  33. 


510  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  Officii*.  The  rarest  class  is  made  up  of  those  who,  either  from  the 

possession  of  exalted  genius,  or  furnished  with  excellent  education 
and  learning,  or  having  both,  have  been  allowed  time  to  make  up 
their  mind  what  course  of  life  they  would  wish  to  embrace. 

Optima  autem  hereditas  a  patribus  traditur  liberis,  om- 
nique  patrimonio  praestantior,  gloria  virtutis  rerumque 
gestarum :  cui  dedecori  esse,  nefas  judicandum  est.  I,  33. 
The  best  legacy  a  father  can  leave  to  his  children,  a  legacy 
worth  far  more  than  the  largest  patrimony,  is  the  fame  of  a  virtu- 
ous and  well-spent  life.  He  who  disgraces  such  a  bequest  is 
deserving  of  infamy. 


Privatum  autem  oportet  aequo,  et  pari  cum  civibus  jure 
vivere,  neque  submissum  et  abjectum,  neque  se  efferen- 
tem :  turn  in  republica  ea  velle,  quae  tranquilla,  et  honest; 
sint;  talem  enim  et  sentire  bonum  civem,  et  dicere  solemus 

I.  34- 

A  private  citizen  ought  to  live  on  terms  of  equality  with  hi 
fellow-citizens,  neither  cringing  nor  subservient,  nor  haughty  no 
insolent;  he  ought  to  be  favorable  to  measures  in  the  state  which 
lead  to  peace  and  quietness,  for  such  we  consider  to  be  the  char- 
acter of  a  virtuous  and  upright  citizen. 


1- 

; 


Peregrini  autem,  et  incolae  officium  est,  nihil  praeter  suum 
negotium  agere,  nihil  de  alio  anquirere,  minimeque  in 
aliena  esse  republica  curiosum.     I,  34. 

A  foreigner  and  an  alien  ought  to  attend  to  nothing  but  his 
own  business,  never  to  meddle  with  the  affairs  of  others,  and  least 
of  all  to  pry  into  the  concerns  of  a  foreign  state. 

Nihil  est,  quod  tarn  deceat,  quam  in  omni  re  gerenda, 
consilioque  capiendo  servare  constantiam.     I,  34. 

Nothing  is  more  becoming  than  in  all  our  actions  and  in  all  our  J 
deliberations  to  observe  consistency  of  conduct. 

Cum   autem  pulchritudinis  duo   genera   sint,   quorum   in 
altero  venustas  sit,  in  altero  dignitas;  venustatem,  mulie-1 
brem  ducere  debemus;  dignitatem,  virilem.     Ergo  et  ai 
forma  removeatur  omnis  viro  non  dignus  ornatus:  et  huic 
simile  vitium  in  gestu,  motuque  caveatur.     I,  36. 

But,  as  there  are  two  kinds  of  beauty,  in  the  one  of  which  is' 
loveliness,  in  the  other  dignity;  we  ought  to  regard  loveliness  as 


DE  OFFICIIS  511 

the  quality  of  woman,  dignity  that  of  man.    Therefore,  let  every    De  Officii*. 
ornament  unworthy  of  a  man  be  removed  from  his  person,  and  let 
him  guard  against  any  similar  defect  in  his  gestures  and  movements. 

Adhibenda  est  praeterea  munditia  non  odiosa,  neque 
exquisita  nimis;  tantum  quae  fugiat  agrestem,  et  inhuma- 
nam  negligentiam.  Eadem  ratio  est  habenda  vestitus;  in 
quo    (sicut  in  plerisque   rebus)    mediocritas  optima  est. 

1,36. 

Besides,  we  must  be  neat  in  our  person,  though  not  over  par- 
ticular, and  let  us  shun  boorish  and  ungentlemanlike  slovenliness. 
The  same  principles  must  be  applied  to  our  dress,  in  which,  as  in 
most  things,  a  mean  is  to  be  observed. 

Nec  vero,  tanquam  in  possessionem  suam  venerit,  ex- 
cludat  alios:  sed  cum  reliquis  in  rebus,  turn  in  sermone 
communi,  vicissitudinem  non  iniquam  putet.     I,  37. 

A  conversationalist  must  not  exclude  others  from  conversation 
at  the  dinner-table,  as  if  it  were  his  own  possession,  but  he  ought 
to  regard  mutual  interchange  of  ideas  to  be  the  rule  in  conversa- 
tion as  in  other  things. 

Deforme  etiam  est,  de  se  ipso  praedicare,  falsa  praeser- 
tim,  et  cum  irrisione  audientium,  imitarimilitem  gloriosum. 

I  I,  38. 

It  is  a  silly  thing  to  brag  loudly  of  one's  own  doings  (the  more 
I    so  if  it  be  false),  and  to  imitate  the  braggadocio-soldier  in  the  play, 
telling  falsehoods  to  the  great  amusement  of  the  company. 

Odiosum  est  enim,  cum  a  praetereuntibus  dicitur:  "O 
domus  antiqua,  heu,   quam  dispari  dominare  domino !" 

It  is  a  disgraceful  thing  when  the  passers-by  exclaim,  "O 
ancient  house !  alas,  how  unlike  is  thy  present  master  to  thy  former 
lord!" 

Ornanda  enim  est  dignitas  domo,  non  ex  domo  tota 
quaerenda :  nec  domo  dominus,  sed  domino  domus 
honestanda  est.     I,  39. 

Your  house  may  add  luster  to  your  dignity,  but  it  will  not 
suffice  that  you  should  derive  all  your  dignity  from  your  house: 
the  master  should  ennoble  the  house,  not  the  house  the  master. 


512  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  Officii*.      Fit  enim,  ut  magis  in  aliis  cernamus,  quam  in  nobismet 
ipsis,  si  quid  delinquitur.     I,  41. 

For  it  happens  that  we  are  more  quicksighted  as  to  the  faults 
of  others  than  to  our  own. 

Prudentia  est  rerum  expetendarum  fugiendarumque 
scientia.    I,  43. 

Prudence  is  the  knowledge  of  things  to  be  sought  and  to  be 
avoided. 

Quibus  rebus  intelligitur,  studiis,  officiisque  scientiae, 
praeponenda  esse  officia  justitiae,  quae  pertinent  ad  homi- 
num  utilitatem;   qua   nihil  homini  esse  debet  antiquius. 

1,43- 

Hence  it  may  be  understood  that  the  studies  and  pursuits  of 
literature  ought  to  be  deferred  to  the  study  of  law,  which  relates 
to  the  interests  of  the  human  race,  than  which  there  ought  to  be 
nothing  more  important  to  man. 

Docti  neque  solum  vivi,  atque  praesentes  studiosos 
discendi  erudiunt,  atque  docent:  sed  hos  idem  etiam  post 
mortem  monumentis  litterarum  assequuntur.     I,  44. 

Learned  men  not  only  instruct  and  educate  those  who  are  desir- 
ous to  learn,  during  their  life,  and  while  they  are  present  among 
us,  but  they  continue  to  do  the  same  after  death  by  the  monuments 
of  their  learning  which  they  leave  behind  them. 

Ob  earn  causam  eloqui  copiose,  modo  prudenter,  melius 
est,  quam  vel  acutissime  sine  eloquentia  cogitare :  quod 
cogitatio  in  se  ipsa  vertitur,  eloquentia  complectitur  eos, 
quibuscum  communitate  juncti  sumus.    I,  44. 

On  this  account  it  is  more  serviceable  to  the  public  to  speak, 
eloquently,  provided  it  is  with  prudence,  than  to  think  ever 
accurately,  if  it  be  destitute  of  eloquence;  for  thought  terminate 
in  itself,  whereas  eloquence  embraces  all  those  with  whom  we  ai 
united  in  the  society  of  life. 

Omne  officium,  quod  ad  conjunctionem  hominum,  et  ac 
societatem  tuendam  valet,  anteponendum  est  illi  offick 
quod  cognitione  et  scientia  continetur.     I,  44. 

Every  duty  which,  when  properly  performed,  tends  to  promote 
the  unity  of  humanity  and  to  preserve  society,  should  be  held  morel 
sacred  than  that  which  is  confined  to  the  acquisition  of  informa- 
tion and  knowledge. 


DE  OFFICIIS  513 

Quid  est  optabilius  sapientia?  quid  praestantius?  quid  DeOfficiis. 
homini  melius?  quid  homini  dignius?  Hanc  igitur  qui 
expetunt,  Philosophi  nominantur:  nee  quidquam  aliud  est 
philosophia,  si  interpretari  velis,  quam  studium  sapientiae. 
Sapentia  autem  est,  (ut  a  veteribus  philosophis  definitum 
est)  rerum  divinarum  et  humanarum,  causarumque, 
quibus  hae  res  continentur,  scientia :  cujus  studium  qui 
vituperat,  haud  sane  intelligo,  quidnam  sit,  quod  laudan- 
dum  putet.  Nam  sive  oblectatio  quaeritur  animi,  requies- 
que  curarum;  quae  conferri  cum  eorum  studiis  potest,  qui 
semper  aliquid  anquirunt,  quod  spectet  et  valeat  ad 
bene  beateque  vivendum?  sive  ratio  constantiae,  virtu- 
tisque  quaeritur:  aut  haec  ars  est,  aut  nulla  omnino,  per 
quam  eas  assequamur.  Nullam  dicere  maximarum  rerum 
artem  esse,  cum  minimarum  sine  arte  nulla  sit,  hominum 
est  parum  considerate  loquentium,  atque  in  maximis  rebus 
errantium.  Si  autem  est  aliqua  disciplina  virtutis,  ubi  ea 
quaeretur,  cum  ab  hoc  discendi  genere  discesseris.  II,  2. 
What  so  desirable  as  wisdom?  What  more  excellent  in  itself, 
so  useful  to  man,  or  better  deserving  his  pursuit?  Hence  they 
who  are  possessed  with  an  earnest  desire  to  acquire  it  are  called 
Philosophers;  for  Philosophy,  in  the  precise  meaning  of  the  word, 
signifies  the  love  of  wisdom.  Now  wisdom,  as  defined  by  the 
ancient  sages,  is  the  knowledge  of  things  divine  and  human,  with 
their  efficient  causes.  Whoever  despises  this  study,  I  know  not 
what  he  can  think  worthy  of  his  approbation:  for  whether  an 
agreeable  amusement,  or  freedom  from  care,  be  the  object  of  his 
desires;  what  is  comparable  to  those  studies  which  are  always 
taken  up  in  searching  after  the  means  of  attaining  a  good  and 
happy  life?  Or,  is  he  desirous  of  learning  the  principles  of 
virtue  and  true  courage?  here,  or  nowhere,  is  to  be  found  the 
art  of  acquiring  them.  They  who  affirm  that  there  is  no  art  in 
things  of  the  greatest  moment,  while  nothing  however  small  and 
trifling  is  performed  without  its  aid,  are  guilty  of  the  grossest 
error,  and  must  be  men  of  no  consideration.  Now  if  there  be 
any  science  of  virtue,  where  shall  it  be  learned,  if  not  in  the 
school  of  philosophy? 

Nos  autem,  ut  ceteri  alia  certa,  alia  incerta  esse  dicunt, 
sic  ab  his  dissidentes  alia  probabilia,  contra  alia  dicimus. 
II,  2. 

Where  others  say  that  some  things  are  certain,  others  uncertain, 
we,  differing  from  them,  say  that  some  things  are  probable,  others 
improbable. 


514  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  Officii*.      Deos  placatos  pietas  efficiet  et  sanctitas.    n,  3. 
Piety  and  holiness  of  life  will  propitiate  the  gods. 

Nulla   tam   detestabilis  pestis   est,   quae   non  homini   ab 
homine  nascatur.     II,  5. 

There  is  no  plague  of  so  fearful  a  character  that  it  may  not 
be  communicated  to  man  from  man. 

Utitur,  in  re  non  dubia,  testibus  non  necessariis.     II,  5. 

In  a  case  which  admits  of  no  doubt  he  is  calling  unnecessary 
witnesses. 

Proprium  hoc  statuo  esse  virtutis,  conciliare  animos  homi- 
num,  et  ad  usus  suos  adjungere.     II,  5. 

It  is  Virtue's  province  to  win  her  way  into  the  hearts  of  men, 
and  bind  them  to  her  service. 

Magnam  vim  esse  in  fortuna  in  utramque  partem,  vel 
secundas  ad  res,  vel  adversas,  quis  ignorat?  nam  et  cui 
prospero  flatu  ejus  utimur,  ad  exitus  pervehimur  optatos: 
et  cum  reflavit,  affligimur.    II,  6. 

Who  does  not  know  the  influence  that  fortune  exercises  bott 
upon  our  prosperity  and  adversity?  For  when  we  sail  with  hei 
favoring  breeze,  we  are  carried  forward  to  the  wished-for  port, 
and  when  she  blows  against  us,  we  are  in  distress. 

Male  enim  se  res  habet,  quum  quod  virtute  effici  debet, 
id  tentatur  pecunia.    II,  6. 

Things  are  in  a  bad  way  when  money  is  used  to  effect  what 
should  be  accomplished  by  valor. 

Malus  enim  custos  diuturnitatis  metus;  contraque  benevo-  ' 
lentia  fidelis  est  vel  ad  perpetuitatem.     II,  7. 

Fear  is  an  untrustworthy  guardian  of  constancy,  but  a  kindly 
heart  is  faithful  even  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

Qui  se  metui  volent,  a  quibus  metuentur,  eosdem  metuant. 
ipsi  necesse  est.    II,  7. 

Those  who  desire  to  be  feared  cannot  but  fear  those  by  whom 
they  are  feared. 

Voluptates,  blandissimae  dominae,  majores  partes  animi 
a  virtute  detorquent;  et  dolorum  cum  admoventur  faces, 


DE  OFFICIIS  515 

praeter  modum  plerique  exterrentur:  vita,  mors,  divitiae,  DeOffidis. 
paupertas,  omnes  homines  vehementissime  permovent. 
Quae  qui  in  utramque  partem  excelso  animo,  magnoque 
despiciunt,  cumque  aliqua  his  ampla,  et  honesta  res  objecta 
est,  totas  ad  se  convertit,  et  rapit,  turn  quis  non  admiretur 
splendorem,  pulchritudinemque  virtutis.     II,  10. 

Pleasures,  those  alluring  mistresses,  divert  the  great  majority 
of  mankind  from  the  path  of  virtue;  and  when  the  torch  of  afflic- 
tion is  applied  they  are  terrified  beyond  measure.  All  men  feel 
strongly  life,  death,  riches,  and  poverty.  As  to  those  who,  with 
a  high  and  noble  spirit,  look  on  such  things  with  an  indifferent 
eye,  men,  whom  a  great  and  lofty  object,  when  it  is  presented, 
draws  and  absorbs  to  itself,  in  such  cases  who  can  refrain  from 
admiring  the  splendor  and  beauty  of  their  high-principled  conduct? 

Contemnuntur  H,  qui  nee  sibi  nee  alteri,  ut  dicitur;  in 
quibus  nullus  labor,  nulla  industria,  nulla  cura  est.  II,  10. 
We  despise  those  who,  as  the  saying  goes,  are  no  good  either 
to  themselves  or  to  anyone  else;  who  are  neither  laborious,  nor 
industrious,  nor  careful. 

Justitia,  ex  qua  virtute  viri  boni  appellantur,  mirifica  quae- 
dam  multitudini  videtur;  nee  injuria;  nemo  enim  Justus 
esse  potest,  qui  mortem,  qui  dolorem,  qui  exilium,  qui 
egestatem  timet,  aut  qui  ea,  quae  sunt  his  contraria, 
aequitati  anteponit.     II,  11. 

Justice,  the  possession  of  which  virtue  entitles  men  to  be  called 
good,  is  looked  upon  by  the  masses  as  something  miraculous;  and 
rightly  so,  for  no  one  can  be  just  who  fears  death,  pain,  exile,  or 
poverty,  or  who  ranks  the  opposites  of  these  above  equity. 

Maxime  admirantur  eum,  qui  pecunia  non  movetur:  quod 
in  quo  viro  perspectum  sit,  hunc  igni  spectatum  arbi- 
trantur.     II,   11. 

Men  particularly  admire  him  who  is  not  to  be  influenced  by 
money;  for  in  whomsoever  they  see  this  quality  strongly  marked, 
they  regard  him  as  ore  purified  by  fire. 

Quin  etiam  leges  latronum  esse  dicuntur,  quibus  pareant, 
quas  observent.     II,  11. 

Even  thieves  are  said  to  have  laws  which  they  obey,  which   • 
they  observe. 


516  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeOfficiis.  Quamquam  praeclare  Socrates,  hanc  viam  ad  gloriam 
proximam  et  quasi  compendiariam  dicebat  esse,  si  quis  id 
ageret,  ut,  qualis  haberi  vellet,  talis  esset.  Quod  si  qui 
simulatione,  et  inani  ostentatione,  et  ficto  non  modo  ser- 
mone,  sed  etiam  vultu,  stabilem  se  gloriam  consequi  posse 
rentur,  vehementer  errant.  Vera  gloria  radices  agit, 
atque  etiam  propagatur:  ficta  omnia  celeriter,  tamquam 
flosculi,  decidunt,  nee  simulatum  potest  quidquam  esse 
diuturnum.    II,  12. 

Well  did  Socrates  say,  that  this  was  the  nearest  and  the  shortest 
road  to  glory,  when  a  man  acted  so  that  he  was  such  as  he  wished 
to  he  considered.  Whereas  those  are  greatly  mistaken  who  think 
that  they  can  obtain  permanent  glory  by  hypocrisy,  vain  pretense, 
and  disguised  words  and  looks.  True  glory  strikes  its  roots  deep, 
and  spreads  them  on  all  sides;  everything  false  disappears  quickly, 
like  spring  flowers,  nor  can  anything,  that  is  untrue,  be  of  long 
duration. 

Prima  commendatio  proficiscitur  a  modestia,  turn  pietate 
in  parentes,  turn  in  suos  benevolentia.     II,  13. 

The  chief  recommendation  of  a  young  man  is  modesty,  obedi- 
ence to  parents,  and  affection  for  relations. 

Habendum  est  religion!,  nocentem  aliquando,  modo  ne 
nefarium,  impiumque  defendere;  vult  hoc  multitudo, 
patitur  consuetudo,  fert  etiam  humanitas.     II,  14. 

We  ought  to  consider  it  a  duty  to  defend  the  guilty,  provided 
he  be  not  an  abominable  and  impious  wretch.  Mankind  desires 
this,  custom  allows  it,  and  even  humanity  is  willing  to  tolerate  it. 

Sed  tamen  difficile  dictu  est,  quantopere  conciliet  animos 
hominum  comitas,  affabilitasque  sermonis.     II,  14. 

But  yet  it  is  difficult  to  say  how  much  men's  minds  are  con-j 
ciliated  by  a  kind  manner  and  affability  of  speech. 

Quid  est  tarn  inhumanum  quam  eloquentiam,  a  natura  ad 
salutem  hominum  et  ad  conservationem  datam,  ad  bono- 
rum  pestem  perniciemque  convertere?     II,  14. 

What  more  barbarous  than  to  pervert  eloquence,  which  is  8 
gift  of  nature  for  the  salvation  and  preservation  of  mankind,  tc 
the  ruin  and  destruction  of  the  good? 


DE  OFFICIIS  517 

Judicis  est  semper  in  causis  verum  sequi;  patroni  non-  De  Officii*. 
nunquam  verisimile,  etiam  si  minus  sit  verum,  defendere. 
II,  14. 

It  is  always  the  judge's  business  in  a  suit  to  endeavor  to  get  at 
the  truth :  it  may  sometimes  be  the  duty  of  the  advocate  to  defend 
a  probable  hypothesis,  even  though  it  be  not  quite  the  truth. 

Non  ita  claudenda  est  res  familiaris,  ut  earn  benignitas 
aperire  non  possit:  nee  ita  reseranda,  ut  pateat  omnibus, 
modus  adhibeatur,  isque  referatur  ad  facultates.  II,  15. 
Our  purse  should  not  be  so  closed  that  our  kind  feelings  cannot 
open  it,  nor  yet  so  unfastened  that  it  lies  open  to  all.  A  limit 
should  be  set,  and  it  should  depend  upon  our  means. 

Omnino  meminisse  debemus  id,  quod  a  nostris  hominibus 
saepissime  usurpatum,  jam  in  proverbii  consuetudinem 
venit,  largitionem  fundum  non  habere;  etenim  quis  potest 
modus  esse,  cum  et  idem  qui  consuerunt,  et  idem  illud  alii 
desiderent.    II,  15. 

We  ought  particularly  to  remember  this,  as  it  is  often  in  the 
mouths  of  the  men  of  the  present  day,  and  has  even  passed  into  a 
proverb,  that  "a  bountiful  disposition  has  no  bottom."  For 
where  can  there  be  any  moderation  when  both  those  who  are 
accustomed  to  get  and  also  others  are  anxious  for  the  same  thing? 

Largitionem  fundum  non  habere.    II,  15. 
Charity's  money-bags  are  bottomless. 

Nam  praeclare  Ennius: 

"Benefacta   male   locata,   malefacta   arbitror." 

II,  18. 
Well  has  Ennius  said,  "Kindnesses  misplaced  are  nothing  but 
a  curse  and  disservice." 

Omnes  enim  immemorem  beneficii  oderunt,  eamque  in- 
juriam  in  deterrenda  liberalitate  sibi  etiam  fieri,  eumque 
qui  faciat  communem  hostem  tenuiorum  putant.  II,  18. 
All  men  detest  ingratitude,  as  being  an  injury  done  to  them- 
selves, by  the  effect  it  has  of  discouraging  generosity,  and  the 
ingrate  they  look  upon  as  the  common  enemy  of  the  poor. 

Commode  autem  quicumque  dixit,  pecuniam  qui  habeat, 
non  reddidisse:  qui  reddiderit,  non  habere:  gratiam  autem 
et  qui  retulerit,  habere :  et  qui  habeat,  retulisse.     II,  20. 


518  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  Officii*.  Now  it  was  well  said,  whoever  said  it,  "That  he  who  hath  the 

loan  of  money  has  not  repaid  it ;  and  he  who  has  repaid  it  has  not 
the  loan;  but  he  who  has  acknowledged  a  kindness  has  it  still; 
and  he  who  has  a  feeling  of  it  has  requited  it." 

Turn  illud  male:  "non  esse  in  civitate  duo  millia  hominum, 
qui  rem  haberent."  Capitalis  oratio,  et  ad  aequationem 
bonorum  pertinens:  qua  peste  quae  potest  esse  major? 
II,  21. 

He  said  very  unwisely,  "That  there  were  not  two  thousand 
men  of  property  in  the  whole  state."  A  speech  well  worthy  of 
notice,  and  which  aimed  at  the  equalizing  of  property,  than  which 
there  is  no  principle  more  pernicious  in  a  state. 

Labefactant  fundamenta  reipublicae;  concordiam  primum, 
quae  esse  non  potest,  quum  aliis  adimuntur,  aliis  condo- 
nantur  pecuniae;  deinde  aequitatem,  quae  tollitur  omnis, 
si  habere  suum  cuique  non  licet.     II,  22. 

They  are  uprooting  the  very  foundations  of  the  state;  first, 
harmony,  which  cannot  exist  when  property  is  taken  by  force  from 
some  to  be  presented  to  others;  next,  justice,  which  is  destroyed 
when  a  man  is  not  permitted  to  retain  possession  of  his  own. 

Non  enim  numero  haec  judicantur,  sed  pondere.     II,  22. 
Not  number  but  weight  is  our  test  in  these  matters. 

Sed  valitudo  sustentatur  notitia  sui  corporis;  et  observa- 
tione,  quae  res  aut  prodesse  soleant,  aut  obesse;  et  con- 
tinentia  in  victu  omni,  atque  cultu,  corporis  tuendi  causa; 
et  praetermittendis  voluptatibus ;  postremo  arte  eorum, 
quorum  ad  scientiam  haec  pertinent.    II,  24. 

Good  health  is  to  be  secured  by  an  acquaintance  with  our  con- 
stitutions, and  by  observing  what  things  benefit  or  injure  us;  by 
temperance  in  living,  which  tends  to  preserve  the  body;  by  refrain-; 
ing  from  sensuality ;  in  short,  by  employing  the  skill  of  those  who 
have  devoted  themselves  to  the  study  of  the  human  body. 

Publium  Scipionem,  Marce  fili,  eum,  qui  primus  Africanus 
appellatus  est,  dicere  solitum  scripsit  Cato,  qui  fuit  fere 
ejus  aequalis,  "Numquam  se  minus  otiosum  esse,  qnam 
cum  otiosus;  nee  minus  solum,  quam  cum  solus  esset.  \ 
Magnifica  vero  vox,  et  magno  viro,  ac  sapiente  digna: 
quae  declarat,  ilium  et  in  otio  de  negotiis  cogitare,  et  in, 


DE  OFF1CIIS  519 

solitudine   secum   loqui   solitum;   ut  neque   cessaret   um-   DeOfficiis. 
quam,  et  interdum  colloquio  alterius  non  egeret     Itaque 
duae  res,  quae  languorem  afferunt  ceteris,  ilium  acuebant, 
otium,  et  solitude     III,  1. 

My  son  Marcus,  Cato  tells  us  that  Publius  Scipio,  he  who  was 
called  Africanus  the  Elder,  used  to  say  "that  he  was  never  less 
at  leisure  than  when  he  was  at  leisure,  nor  less  alone  than  when 
he  was  alone."  A  splendid  saying,  and  worthy  of  a  great  and 
wise  man,  which  shows  that  he  used  to  deliberate  on  affairs  in  his 
leisure  hours,  and  to  converse  with  himself  when  he  was  alone,  so 
that  he  never  was  idle,  and  sometimes  did  not  require  the  society 
of  others.  Therefore  the  two  things  which  cause  ennui  to  others 
—  namely,  retirement  and  solitude  —  roused  him. 

Sic  ab  hominibus  doctis  accepimus,  non  solum  ex  malis 
eligere  minima  oportere,  sed  etiam  excerpere  ex  his  ipsis, 
si  quid  inesset  boni.     Ill,  I. 

Learned  men  have  taught  us  that  not  only  with  a  choice  of 
evils  we  should  choose  the  least,  but  that  from  the  evil  we  should 
endeavor  to  extract  some  good. 

Liceret  ei  dicere  utilitatem  aliquando  cum  honestate 
pugnare.    ill,  3. 

He  may  say,  if  he  will,  that  expediency  sometimes  clashes  with 
honesty. 

Magis  est  secundum  naturam,  pro  omnibus  gentibus,  si 
fieri  possit,  conservandis,  aut  juvandis  maximos  labores, 
molestiasque  suscipere.    Ill,  5. 

It  is  more  in  accordance  with  nature  to  undergo  the  greatest 
labors  and  annoyances,  for  the  sake,  if  it  were  possible,  of  pre- 
serving or  assisting  all  nations. 

Derelictio  communis  utilitatis  contra  naturam  est.     in,  6. 
The  desertion  of  the  common  interest  is  contrary  to  nature. 

Suum  cuique  incommodum  ferendum  est,  potius  quam  de 
alterius  commodis  detrahendum.    Ill,  6. 

It  is  the  duty  of  each  man  to  bear  his  own  discomforts,  rather 
than  diminish  the  comforts  of  his  neighbor. 

Nihil  vero  utile,  quod  non  idem  honestum :  nihil  hones- 
turn,  quod  non  idem  utile  sit,  saepe  testatur:  negatque, 


520  CICERO;  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  Officii*.      ullam  pestem  majorem  in  vitam  hominum  invasisse,  quam 
eorum  opinionem,  qui  ista  distraxerint.     Ill,  7. 

He  often  assures  us  that  there  is  nothing  expedient  which  is  not 
also  honorable,  nothing  honorable  which  is  not  also  expedient; 
and  he  maintains  that  there  is  no  greater  injury  done  to  men  than 
by  those  who  try  to  separate  them. 

In  ipsa  dubitatione  facinus  inest,  etiamsi  ad  id  non  per- 
venerint.     in,  8. 

Wickedness  resides  in  the  very  hesitation  about  an  act,  even 
though  it  be  not  perpetrated. 

Qui  stadium  currit,  eniti  et  contendere  debet,  quam 
maxime  possit,  ut  vincat:  supplantare  eum,  quicum  certet, 
aut  manu  depellere,  nullo  modo  debet;  sic  in  vita  sibi 
quemque  petere,  quod  pertineat  ad  usum,  non  iniquum 
est:  alteri  deripere,  jus  non  est.    Ill,  10. 

He  who  runs  in  a  racecourse  ought  to  exert  himself  as  much  as 
he  can  conquer,  but  ought  by  no  means  to  trip  up  or  throw 
down  the  man  with  whom  he  is  contending;  so  in  the  affairs  of 
life  there  is  nothing  wrong  in  a  man  trying  to  obtain  what  may 
be  for  his  advantage,  yet  roguery  is  unlawful. 

Omnia  patefacienda,  ut  ne  quid  omnino,  quod  venditor 
norit,  emptor  ignoret.     Ill,  12. 

Everything  should  be  disclosed,  that  the  buyer  may  be  ignorant 
of  nothing  which  the  seller  knows. 

Neminem  id  agere,  ut  ex  alterius  praedetur  inscientia. 
Ill,  17. 

No  one  should  act  so  as  to  take  advantage  of  the  ignorance  of 
his  neighbor. 

Ex  quo  intelligitur,  quoniam  juris  natura  fons  sit,  hoc 
secundum  naturam  esse,  neminem  id  agere  ut  ex  alterius 
praedetur  inscientia.    Ill,  17. 

We  must  understand,  therefore,  that  since  nature  is  the  foun- 
tain of  justice,  it  is  according  to  natural  law  that  no  one  should 
take  advantage  of  another's  ignorance  to  his  own  profit. 

Aliud  utile  interdum,  aliud  honestum  videri  solet.  Falso: 
nam  eadem  utilitatis,  quae  honestatis  est  regula.  Qui  hoc 
non  perviderit,  ab  hoc  nulla  fraus  aberit,  nullum  facinus. 
Sic  enim  cogitans,  Est  istuc  quidem  honestum,  verum  hoc 


DE  OFFICIIS  521 

expedit,  res  a  natura  copulatas  audebit  errore  divellere :   DeOfficiis. 
qui  fons  est  fraudium,  maleficiorum,  scelerum  omnium. 
Itaque  si  vir  bonus  habeat  hanc  vim,  ut,  si  digitis  con- 
crepuerit,   possit  in  locupletium  testamenta  nomen  ejus 
irrepere;  hac  vi  non  utatur:  ne   si   exploratum  quidem 

habeat,  id  omnino  neminem  unquam  suspicaturum 

Homo  Justus,  isque  quern  sentimus  virum  bonum,  nihil 
cuiquam,  quod  in  se  transferat,  detrahet.  Hoc  qui  ad- 
miratur,  is  se,  quid  sit  vir  bonus,  nescire  fateatur.  At 
vero  si  quis  voluerit  animi  sui  complicatam  notionem 
evolvere,  jam  se  ipse  doceat,  eum  virum  bonum  esse,  qui 
prosit  quibus  possit:  noceat  nemini,  nisi  lacessitus  injuria. 
Quid  ergo  hie  non  noceat,  qui  quodam  quasi  veneno  per- 
ficiat,  ut  veros  heredes  moveat  in  eorum  locum  ipse  suc- 
cedat?  Non  igitur  faciat,  dixerit  quis,  quod  utile  sit,  quod 
expediat?  Immo  intelligat,  nihil  nee  expedire,  nee  utile 
esse,  quod  sit  injustum.  Hoc  qui  non  didicerit,  bonus  vir 
esse  non  poterit.     Ill,  18,  19. 

Profit  and  honesty  sometimes  appear  to  interfere  with  one 
another.  But  the  case  is  otherwise;  for  the  rule  of  both  is  the 
same.  Whoever  is  not  fully  convinced  of  this,  must  be  an  arrant 
knave  and  villain.  By  such  a  train  of  thought  he  will  be  led  to 
say,  this  indeed  is  equitable,  but  that  advantageous,  by  such  a 
fatal  mistake  disjoining  things  in  their  own  nature  inseparable; 
which  is  the  source  of  all  manner  of  treachery,  injustice  and 
wickedness.  A  virtuous  man,  therefore,  though  possessed  of  a 
secret  to  get  his  name  inserted  into  the  last  wills  of  people  of 
fortune,  so  easily  as  with  a  knack  of  his  fingers,  would  never  put 
it  in  practice,  even  though  he  certainly  knew  it  could  never  be 
in  the  least  suspected.  A  just  man,  or  one  who  answers  to  our 
notion  of  a  good  man,  will  take  nothing  from  another  to  be 
applied  to  his  own  use.  Whoever  is  surprised  at  this  assertion, 
tacitly  confesses  that  he  is  ignorant  of  what  constitutes  the  char- 
acter of  a  good  man.  But  would  anyone  take  the  pains  to 
revolve  this  complicated  idea  in  his  own  breast,  he  will  find  that 
the  good  man  is  one  who  does  good  to  all  he  can,  and  hurts  nobody, 
unless  first  provoked  by  ill  usage.  What  shall  we  say  then?  Is 
he  not  an  injurious  person  who,  as  it  were,  by  the  power  of  some 
drug,  has  the  address  to  disinherit  the  true  heirs,  in  order  to 
succeed  in  their  place?  Shall  a  man,  then,  some  may  object, 
forbear  to  pursue  what  is  profitable  and  advantageous?  I  would 
have  such  a  one  know  that  nothing  unjust  in  itself  can  tend  either 
to  our  advantage  or  profit.  He  that  has  not  learnt  this  lesson 
can  have  no  pretension  to  the  character  of  a  good  man. 


522  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  Officii*.      Cum  enim  fidem  alicujus,  bonitatemque  laudant,  dignum 
esse  dicunt,  quicum  in  tenebris  mices. 

For  when  they  praise  the  faith,  the  honor,  the  goodness  of  a 
man,  they  say,  "He  is  one  with  whom  we  may  play  at  odd  and 
even  in  the  dark." 

Sic  multa  quae  honesta  natura  videntur  esse,  temporibus 
fiunt  non  honesta.    Ill,  25. 

Thus  many  things  which  seem  by  their  nature  honorable  are 
rendered  dishonorable  by  circumstances. 

Scite  Euripides:  "Juravi  lingua,  mentem  injuratam  gero." 
Ill,  29. 

I  have  sworn  with  my  tongue,  but  I  have  a  mind  unsworn. 

Non  enim  falsum  jurare,  perjurare  est:  sed,  quod  ex  animi 
tui  sententia  juraris,  sicut  verbis  concipitur  more  nostro, 
id  non  facere,  perjurium  est.     Ill,  29. 

For  to  swear  falsely  is  not  at  all  times  to  be  accounted  perjury, 
but  not  to  perform  that  which  you  have  sworn  according  to  the 
intentions  of  your  mind  —  "ex  animi  tui  sententia,"  as  our  law 
books  have  it — is  perjury. 

Cum  his  viris  equisque,  ut  dicitur,  ....  decertandum 
est.     Ill,  33. 

We  must  fight  them,  as  the  saying  is,  with  foot  and  horse. 

Aqua  haeret,  ut  aiunt.    Ill,  33. 
The  water  sticks,  they  say. 


DE  ORATORE 

DeOratore.     Memoria  est  thesaurus  omnium  rerum  et  custos.     I,  5. 
Memory  is  the  treasury  and  guardian  of  all  things. 

Quid  tarn  regium,  tarn  liberale,  tarn  munificum,  quam 
opem  ferre  supplicibus,  excitare  afflictos,  dare  salutem, 
liberare  periculis?    I,  8. 

What  is  there  so  kinglike,  so  noble,  so  generous,  as  to  bring 
aid  to  the  suppliant,  to  raise  up  the  broken  in  heart,  to  save  and 
deliver  from  dangers? 


DE  O  RAT  ORE  523 

Neque  vero  mihi  quidquam  praestabilius  videtur,  quam  DeOratore. 
posse  dicendo  tenere  hominum  coetus,  mentes  allicere, 
voluntates  impellere  quo  velit;  unde  autem  velit,  dedu- 
cere.  Haec  una  res  in  omni  libero  populo,  maximeque  in 
pacatis,  tranquillisque  civitatibus,  praecipue  semper  floruit, 
semperque  dominata  est.  Quid  enim  est  aut  tarn  admira- 
bile,  quam  ex  infinita  multitudine  hominum  exsistere  unum, 
qui  id,  quod  omnibus  natura  sit  datum,  vel  solus,  vel  cum 
paucis  facere  possit?  aut  tarn  jucundum  cognitu,  atque 
auditu,  quam  sapientibus  sententiis,  gravibusque  verbis 
ornata  oratio,  et  perpolita?  aut  tarn  potens,  tamque  mag- 
nificum,  quam  populi  motus,  judicum  religiones,  senatus 
gravitatem,  unius  oratione  converti?  Quid  tarn  porro 
regium,  tarn  liberale,  tarn  munificum,  quam  opem  ferre 
supplicibus,  excitare  afflictos,  dare  salutem,  liberare  peri- 
culis,  retinere  homines  in  civitate?  Quid  autem  tarn  ne- 
cessarium,  quam  tenere  semper  arma,  quibus  vel  tectus 
ipse  esse  possis,  vel  provocare  improbos  vel  te  ulcisci 
lacessitus?    1,  8. 

There  is  nothing,  I  think,  more  truly  excellent,  than  for  a 
man  to  be  able  to  attract,  by  his  eloquence,  the  attention  of  a 
whole  assembly;  to  charm  their  understandings;  and  to  direct, 
or  restrain,  their  inclinations  at  pleasure.  This  single  art  hath 
always,  among  free  people,  and  especially  in  times  of  public  peace 
and  tranquillity,  not  only  met  with  the  highest  encouragement, 
but  reigned,  as  it  were,  paramount.  Now  is  there  anything  so 
deserving  our  admiration  as  that  amidst  an  infinite  number  of 
men  there  should  be  found  only  one,  or  at  least  but  few,  who 
are  able  to  exercise  those  talents  which  nature  has  bestowed  on 
all?  Or,  can  anything  convey  so  sincere  a  pleasure  to  our  under- 
standing or  ear,  as  a  discourse  which  to  the  wisest  sentiments 
adds  the  luster  and  embellishment  of  expression?  What  great- 
ness, what  power,  can  compare  with  his  who,  by  a  single  speech, 
can  direct  the  caprices  of  the  people,  the  consciences  of  judges, 
and  even  the  majestic  gravity  of  the  Senate?  Besides,  can  any- 
thing be  more  generous,  more  like  a  king,  or  more  truly  denote  a 
great  soul,  than  to  lend  assistance  to  those  who  desire  it,  relieve 
the  oppressed,  communicate  happiness,  protect  from  dangers,  and 
preserve  citizens  from  exile?  What,  on  the  other  hand,  so  neces- 
sary, as  to  have  arms  always  about  us  to  annoy  the  malefactor, 
protect  us  from  insult,  and  avenge  ourselves  when  we  are  injured? 

Hos,  quos  nos  oratores  vocaremus,  nihil  esse   (Mnesar- 
chus)    dicebat,  nisi  quosdam   operarios  lingua  celeri,   et 


524  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeOratore.     exercitata :  oratorem  autem,  nisi  qui  sapiens  esset,  esse 
neminem.     I,  18. 

Mnesarchus  used  to  say  that  those  whom  we  called  orators 
were  nothing  else  but  artisans  with  voluble  and  well-trained 
tongues,  but  that  no  one  was  an  orator  unless  he  was  wise. 

Quid  est  ineptius  quam  de  dicendo  dicere,  quum  ipsum 
dicere  nunquam  sit  non  ineptum  nisi  quum  est  necessa- 
rium?    I,  24. 

What  can  be  more  foolish  than  to  talk  about  talking,  when 
talking  itself  is  foolish  except  when  it  is  necessary? 

Nihil  in  hominum  genere  rarius  perfecto  oratore  inveniri 
potest.     I,  28. 

Nothing  is  more  rarely  found  among  men  than  a  consummate 
orator. 

Nihil   est   enim   tarn   insigne   nee  tarn   ad   diuturnitatem 

memoriae  stabile,  quam  id  in  quo  aliquid  offenderis.  I,  28. 

Nothing  attracts  so  much  attention,  or  retains  such  a  hold  upon 

men's  memories,  as  the  occasion  when  you  have  made  a  mistake. 

Stilus  optimus  et  praestantissimus  dicendi  effector  ac 
magister.     I,  33. 

The  pen  is  the  best  and  most  excellent  modeler  and  teacher  of 
oratory. 

Vere  enim  illud  dicitur,  Perverse  dicere  homines  perverse 
dicendo  facillime  consequi.    I,  33. 

It  is  a  true  saying  that  one  falsehood  leads  easily  to  another. 

Juris  peritorum  eloquentissimus,  eloquentium  juris  peri- 
tissimus.    I,  39  [of  Q.  Scaevola]. 

The  greatest  orator  among  the  lawyers,  the  greatest  lawyer 
among  the  orators. 

Omnia  fere,  quae  sunt  conclusa  nunc  artibus,  dispersa  et 
dissipata  quondam  fuerunt;  ut  in  musicis  numeri  et  voces 
et  modi;  in  geometria  lineamenta,  formae,  intervalla, 
magnitudines;  in  astrologia  caeli  conversio,  ortus,  obitus 
motusque  siderum;  in  grammaticis  poetarum  pertractatio, 
historiarum  cognitio,  verborum  interpretatio,  pronunti- 
andi  quidam  sonus;  in  hac  denique  ipsa  ratione  dicendi 


DE  ORATORE  525 

excogitare,  ornare,  disponere,  meminisse,  agere  disjecta  DeOratore. 

quondam  omnibus  et  diffusa  late  videbantur.     Adhibita 

est  igitur  ars  quaedam  extrinsecus  ex  alio  genere  quodam; 

quod  sibi  totum  philosophi  adsumunt,  quae  rem  dissolu- 

tam  divulsamque,  conglutinaret  et  ratione  quadam  con- 

stringeret.    Sit  ergo  in  jure  civili  finis  hie:  legitimae  atque 

usitatae  in  rebus  causisque  civium  aequabilitatis  conserva- 

tio.     Turn  sunt  notanda  genera  et  ad  certum  numerum 

paucitatemque  revocanda.     Genus  autem  est  id,  quod  sui 

similis  communione  quadam,  specie  autem  differentis,  duas 

aut  pluris  complectitur  partis.     Partes  autem  sunt,  quae 

generibus  eis,  ex  quibus  manant,  subiciuntur;  omniaque, 

quae  sunt  vel  generum  vel  partium  nomina,  definitionibus, 

quam  vim  habeant,  est  exprimendum.     Est  enim  definitio 

rerum  earum,  quae  sunt  eius  rei  propriae,  quam  definire 

volumus,    brevis    et    circumscripta    quaedam    explicatio. 

Hisce  ego  rebus  exempla  adjungerem,  nisi  apud  quos  haec 

haberetur  oratio,  cernerem.     Nunc  complectar,  quod  pro- 

posui,  brevi.     Si  enim  aut  mihi  facere  licuerit,  quod  jam 

diu  cogito,  aut  alius  quispiam  aut  me  impedito  occuparit 

aut  mortuo  effecerit,  ut  primum  omne  ius  civile  in  genera 

digerat,  quae  perpauca  sunt,  deinde  eorum  generum  quasi 

quaedam  membra  dispertiat,  turn  propriam  cuiusque  vim 

definitione  declaret,  perfectam  artem  juris  civilis  habebitis, 

magis  magnam  atque  uberem,  quam  difficilem  et  obscu- 

ram.    Atque  interea  tamen,  dum  haec,  quae  dispersa  sunt, 

cogantur,  vel  passim  licet  carpentem  et  colligentem  undi- 

que  repleri  justa  juris  civilis  scientia.    I,  42. 

The  knowledge  of  almost  all  the  things,  which  are  now  reduced 
to  sciences,  was  once  scattered  and  dispersed ;  for  instance,  in 
music,  rhythm,  pitch,  and  melody;  in  geometry,  lines,  figures,  dis- 
tances, and  magnitudes;  in  astronomy,  the  revolutions  of  the 
heavens,  the  risings,  settings,  and  movements  of  the  stars;  in  the 
study  of  literature,  the  handling  of  the  poets,  the  knowledge  of 
history,  the  explanation  of  words,  viz.,  etymology  and  grammar, 
the  sounds  to  be  pronounced ;  finally,  in  this  very  art  of  rhetoric 
of  which  we  are  talking,  the  invention,  expression,  arrangement, 
memorizing,  and  delivery  seem  to  have  been  at  one  time  unknown 
to  all,  or  at  least  the  knowledge  of  them  seems  to  have  been 
entirely  unconnected. 

Therefore  there  was  applied  from  without  a  science  of  a  differ- 
ent genus,  which  the  philosophers  claim  as  entirely  their  own,  a 
science  of  such  a  nature  as  to  bind  by  a  system  the  parts  of  a  sub- 


526  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  Oratore.  ject  hitherto  unconnected  or  even  torn  apart.  Therefore  let  us 
take  the  final  end  of  the  jus  civile  to  be  this,  the  preservation  in 
the  dealings  and  disputes  of  citizens  of  an  equity  based  on  law  and 
custom.  Then  its  genera  must  be  reduced  to  a  fixed  number  and 
one  as  small  as  possible.  A  genus  is  that  which  embraces  two  or 
more  divisions  [partes]  alike  in  possessing  certain  qualities  in 
common  but  differing  in  species.  The  divisions  are  subordinate  to 
the  genera  from  which  they  proceed,  and  the  force  possessed  by 
all  names  of  the  genera  and  divisions  must  be  set  forth  in  defini- 
tions. A  definition  is  a  brief  but  comprehensive  statement  of  those 
great  qualities  which  are  peculiar  to  the  thing  we  wish  to  define. 
To  this  I  should  add  examples  were  I  not  well  acquainted  with 
my  hearers.  As  it  is,  I  shall  put  into  words  what  I  have  proposed. 
If  I  should  be  permitted  to  do  what  I  have  long  been  planning,  or 
if  somebody  else  should  undertake  the  task  while  I  am  otherwise 
engaged,  or  accomplish  it  after  my  death  —  as  soon  as  someone 
shall  divide  the  whole  jus  civile  into  its  genera,  which  are  very 
few,  next  distribute  what  we  may  call  the  numbers  of  these 
genera,  and  then  set  forth  in  definitions  the  proper  force  of  each 
[term  employed],  you  will  have  a  perfected  science  of  the  jus 
civile,  large  and  full  indeed,  but  neither  difficult  nor  obscure.  In 
the  meantime,  while  the  scattered  fragments  are  being  combined, 
a  person  may  get  a  truly  scientific  knowledge  of  civil  law  [justa 
juris  civilis  sciential,  if  he  will  only  cull  and  gather  what  he  can 
here,  there,  and  everywhere. 

Est  sine  dubio  domus  jurisconsulti,  totius  oraculum  civi- 
tatis.     I,  45. 

The  house  of  the  lawyer  is,  no  doubt,  the  oracle  of  the  whole 
state. 

Socrates  dicere  solitus  est,  quibus  id  persuasum  esset,  ut 
nihil  mallent  se  esse,  quam  bonos  viros,  iis  reliquam  faci- 
lem  esse  doctrinam.    I,  47. 

Socrates  used  to  say  that  to  those  who  were  convinced  that 
they  should  prefer  nothing  so  much  as  to  be  good  men,  every  other    ' 
kind  of  learning  was  easy. 

Nolite  sinere   nos  cuiquam   servire  nisi  vobis  universis,    | 
quibus  et  possumus  et  debemus.     I,  52. 

Be  unwilling  to  allow  us  to  be  the  slave  of  only  one,  but  rather 
of  you  all  in  whatever  we  can  and  ought. 

Qui  aut  tempus  quid  postulet,  non  videt  aut  plura  loquitur,   j 
aut  se  ostentat,  aut  eorum  quibuscum  est  vel  dignitatis  vel  j 


DE  ORATORE  527 

commo.di  rationem  non  habet,  aut  denique  in  aliquo  genere  DeOratore. 
aut  inconcinnus  aut  multus  est,  is  ineptus  esse  dicitur.  II,  4. 
He  who  does  not  perceive  what  is  demanded  by  the  circum- 
stances, or  says  too  much,  or  indulges  in  vain  display,  or  does  not 
take  into  account  the  rank,  or  study  the  convenience,  of  those  with 
whom  he  finds  himself,  or,  to  be  brief,  is  in  any  way  awkward  or 
prolix,  is  what  we  call  a  tactless  person. 

Multi  levissimam  delectationem  gravissimae  utilitati 
anteponunt     II,  5. 

Many  prefer  the  smallest  pleasure  to  the  most  important 
advantage. 

Usus  dicendi  in  omni  pacata  et  libera  civitate  dominatur. 
II,  8. 

The  practice  of  public  speaking  flourishes  in  every  peaceful  and 
free  state. 

Historia  vero  testis  temporum,  lux  veritatis,  vita  memo- 
riae, magistra  vitae,  nuntia  vetustatis,  qua  voce  alia  nisi 
oratoris  immortalitati  commendatur.     11,  9. 

History  is  the  witness  of  the  times,  the  torch  of  truth,  the  life 
of  memory,  the  teacher  of  life,  the  herald  of  antiquity;  receiving 
from  the  voice  of  the  orator  alone  her  credentials  to  immortality. 

"Quae  natura  aut  fortuna  darentur  hominibus,  in  iis  rebus 
se  vinci  posse  animo  aequo  pati;  quae  ipsi  sibi  homines 
parare  possent,  in  iis  rebus  se  pati  non  posse  vinci." 
[Crassus,  quoted  by  Cicero]  II,  11. 

We  may  cheerfully  permit  ourselves  to  be  excelled  in  those 
things  which  are  bestowed  on  mankind  by  nature  or  fortune,  but 
not  in  those  which  men  can  secure  for  themselves  by  their  own 
efforts. 

Quis  nescit  primam  esse  historiae  legem  ne  quid  falsi 
dicere  audeat?  deinde  ne  quid  veri  non  audeat?  ne  quae 
suspicio  gratiae  sit  in  scribendo?  ne  quae  simultatis? 
II,  15. 

Who  does  not  recognize  that  the  first  law  of  history  is  that  we 
shall  never  dare  to  say  what  is  false;  the  second  that  we  shall 
never  fear  to  say  what  is  true;  that  everything  we  write  shall  be 
free  from  any  suspicion  of  favoritism  or  flattery? 


528  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeOratore.     Neque  est  omnino  ars  ulla,  in  qua  omnia  quae  ilia  arte 
effici  possunt,  a  doctore  tradantur.    II,  16. 

There  is  no  art  of  which  all  the  possibilities  are  capable  of  being 
imparted  by  a  teacher. 

Quod  enim  ipsi  experti  non  sunt,  id  docent  ceteros.    II,  1 8. 
They  are  teaching  to  others  an  art  in  which  they  have  them- 
selves no  experience. 

Non  potest  in  eo  esse  succus  diuturnus,  quod  nimis  celeri- 
ter  est  maturitatem  assecutum.    n,  21. 

Sap  cannot  long  continue  in  that  which  has  too  quickly  acquired 
maturity. 

Tardi  ingenii  est,  rivulos  consectari,  fontes  rerum  non 
videre.    II,  27. 

It  is  the  part  of  the  slow  of  perception  to  follow  up  the  rivulets 
of  learning  and  never  to  see  the  fountain-head. 

Diligentia,  cum  omnibus  in  rebus,  turn  in  causis  defen- 
dendis  plurimum  valet.  Haec  praecipue  colenda  est 
nobis:  haec  semper  adhibenda;  haec  nihil  est,  quod  non 
assequatur.    II,  35. 

Diligence  has  greatest  power  in  everything,  particularly  in 
defending  causes;  it  is  above  all  to  be  cultivated,  it  is  always  to 
be  attended  to;  there  is  nothing  which  it  does  not  accomplish. 

Avaritiam  si  tollere  vultis,  mater  ejus  est  tollenda, 
luxuries.     II,  40. 

If  you  would  banish  avarice,  you  must  first  banish  luxury,  the 
mother  of  avarice. 

Medico  diligenti,  priusquam  conetur  aegro  adhibere 
medicinam,  non  solum  morbus  ejus,  cui  mederi  volet,  sed 
etiam  consuetudo  valentis  et  natura  corporis  cognoscenda 
est     II,  44. 

A  careful  doctor,  before  attempting  to  prescribe  for  a  patient, 
must  make  himself  acquainted  not  only  with  the  nature  of  the  j 
disease  of  the  man  he  desires  to  cure,  but  also  with  his  manner  of 
life  when  in  health,  and  his  constitution. 

Saepe  enim  audivi  poetam  bonum  neminem  sine  inflam-; 
matione  animorum  existere  posse,  et  sine  quodam  afflatu 
quasi  furoris.     II,  46. 


DE  ORATORE  529 

I  have  often  heard  that  no  real  poet  can  exist  without  the  spirit    De  Oratore. 
being  on  fire,  and  without,  as  it  were,  a  spice  of  madness. 

Invidetur  praestanti  florentique  fortunae.     11,  52. 
Men  envy  high  and  successful  fortune. 

Plerique  sunt  invidi,  maximeque  est  hoc  commune  vitium. 
II,  52. 

Most  men  are  envious,  and  this  is  above  all  a  common  fault. 

Omnino  probabiliora  sunt,  quae  lacessiti  dicimus,  quam 
quae  priores.     II,  $6. 

We  are  more  likely  to  speak  the  truth  under  cross-examination 
than  in  our  evidence  in  chief. 

Facinorosos  majore  quadam  vi  quam  ridiculi  vulnerari 
volunt.     II,  58. 

We  demand  that  the  criminal  should  be  attacked  with  a  more 
powerful  weapon  than  ridicule. 

"Ut  sementem  feceris,  ita  metes."     II,  65. 

[Quoted  by  Cicero] 
As  thou  sowest,  so  shalt  thou  reap. 

Habet  enim  multitudo  vim  quamdam  talem,  ut,  quemad- 
modum  tibicen  sine  tibiis  canere,  sic  orator  sine  multitu- 
dine  audiente  eloquens  esse  non  possit.     II,  83. 

So  great  is  the  influence  of  numbers,  that  an  orator  can  no  more 
be  eloquent  without  a  crowded  audience  than  a  flute-player  can 
play  without  a  flute. 

• 
Vera  laus  uni  virtuti  debetur.    II,  84. 

True  praise  is  due  to  virtue  alone. 

Minime  sibi  quisque  notus  est  et  difficillime  de  se  quisque 
sentit.    Ill,  9. 

Everyone  is  least  known  to  himself,  and  the  most  difficult  task 
is  to  get  acquainted  with  one's  own  character. 

Res  quidem  se  mea  sententia  sic  habet,  ut,  nisi  quod  quis- 
que   cito    potuerit,    nunquam    omnino    possit    perdiscere. 
J    III,  23. 

It  is  a  fact,  as  I  think,  that  what  we  cannot  learn  quickly  we 
cannot  learn  at  all. 


530  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS     , 

DeOratore.     Omnibus   in   rebus   voluptatibus   maximis   fastidium   fini- 
timum  est.    ill,  25. 

In  everything  satiety  follows  most  closely  on  the  greatest 
pleasures. 

"Sapiens    virtuti    honorem    praemium,    haud    praedam 
petit."     [Roscius,  quoted  by  Cicero]  III,  26. 

"The  wise  man  seeks  honor,  not  profit,  as  the  reward  of  virtue." 

Rerum  enim  copia  verborum  copiam  gignit.     Ill,  31. 
A  plethora  of  matter  begets  a  plethora  of  words. 

Quorum  si  alterum  sit  optandum,  malim  equidem  indiser- 
tam  prudentiam,  quam  stultitiam  loquacem.     Ill,  35. 

If  I  have  to  choose  between  the  two,  I  would  rather  have  sounc 
common  sense  without  eloquence,  than  folly  with  a  fine  flow  ol 
language. 

Facilius  enim  ad  ea  quae  visa,  quam  ad  ilia  quae  audita 
sunt,  mentis  oculi  feruntur.    Ill,  41. 

The  mind's  eye  is  more  easily  impressed  by  what  is  seen  than 
by  what  is  heard. 

Irrepit  in  hominum  mentes  dissimulatio.    Ill,  53. 
Dissimulation  creeps  gradually  into  the  minds  of  men. 

Animi  est  enim  omnis  actio,  et  imago  animi  vultus,  Indices 
oculi.    Ill,  59. 

All  action  is  of  the  mind,  and  the  mirror  of  the  mind  is  the 
face,  its  index  the  eyes. 


DE  PARTITIONE  ORATORIA 

De  Cito  enim  exarescit  lacrima,  praesertim  in  alienis  malis. 

Partitione         XVII. 

Oratorta.  Qur  tears  afe  qu;cjcjy  dried,  especially  when  they  are  shed  over 

the  griefs  of  others. 

Nihil  est  enim  tarn  miserabile  quam  ex  beato  miser.    XVII. 
Nothing  is  so  pitiable  as  a  poor  man  who  has  seen  better  days. 


DE  REPUBLIC  A 


53i 


DE  PHILOSOPHIA 

Videt  enim,  quod  videndum  fuit,  appendicem  animi  esse   De 
corpus,  nihilque  in  eo  esse  magnum.    Fragment  96.  Philosophia. 

He  perceived,  what  indeed  was  clear,  that  the  body  is  a  mere 
appendage  of  the  soul,  entirely  devoid  of  great  qualities. 


DE  PETITIONE  CONSULATUS 

Frons  est  animi  janua.      II. 

The  forehead  is  the  gate  of  the  mind. 


De  Petitione 
Consulates. 


DE  PROVINCIIS  CONSULARIBUS 

Non  is  solum  gratus  debet  esse  qui  accepit  beneficium,   DePro- 
verum  etiam  is  cui  potestas  accipiendi  fuit.    xvn.  vindis  Con- 

Gratitude  should  not  be  confined  to  him  who  has  accepted  a   su  arl  us' 
favor,  but  should  be  felt  also  by  him  who  has  had  the  opportunity 
of  accepting. 


DE  REPUBLICA 

Virtus  in  usu  sui  tota  posita  est.    I,  2. 
The  whole  of  virtue  consists  in  practice. 

Nee  vero  habere  virtutem  satis  est,  quasi  artem  aliquam, 
nisi  utare.  Etsi  ars  quidem,  quum  ea  non  utare,  scientia 
tamen  ipsa  teneri  potest,  virtus  in  usu  sui  tota  posita  est. 
I,  2. 

It  is  not  enough  to  possess  virtue,  as  though  it  were  an  art, 
unless  we  use  it.  For  although,  if  you  do  not  practice  an  art,  you 
may  yet  retain  it  theoretically,  the  whole  of  virtue  is  centered  in 
the  exercise  of  virtue. 

Neque  enim  hac  nos  patria  lege  genuit  aut  educavit;  ut 
nulla  quasi  alimenta  expectaret  a  nobis,  ac  tantummodo 
nostris  ipsa  commodis  serviens,  tutum  perfugium  otio 
nostro  suppeditaret,  et  tranquillum  ad  quietem  locum ; 
sed  ut  plurimas  et  maximas  nostri  animi,  ingenii,  consilii 
partes  ipsa  sibi  ad  utilitatem  suam  pignaretur,  tantumque 


De 

Republica. 


532  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  nobis  in  nostrum  privatum  usum,  quantum  ipsi  superesse 

Republka.      posset,  remitteret    I,  4. 

Nor  has  our  fatherland  produced  and  brought  us  up,  so  that 
she  should  derive  no  advantage  from  us,  or  that  we  should  regard 
it  as  created  for  our  mere  convenience  —  as  a  place  where  we  may 
tranquilly  while  away  our  useless  existence  in  idleness  and  sloth. 
Such  is  not  the  proper  view  in  which  we  should  regard  our 
country.  She  claims  from  us  the  mightiest  exertions  of  our  mind 
and  of  all  our  powers,  and  only  gives  back  for  our  private  use 
what  remains  of  our  stock  of  time  after  we  have  been  so  employed. 

Neque  enim  est  ulla  res,  in  qua  propius  ad  deorum  numen 
virtus  accedat  humana,  quam  civitates  aut  condere  novas 
aut  conservare  jam  conditas.    I,  7. 

Nor  is  there  anything  in  which  the  virtues  of  mankind  approach 
nearer  to  the  gods  than  when  they  are  employed  in  founding  new 
commonwealths,  and  in  preserving  those  already  founded. 

Mihi  omne  tempus  est  ad  meos  libros  vacuum,  numquam 
sunt  illi  occupati.     I,  9. 

My  books  are  always  at  leisure  for  me,  they  are  never  engaged. 
><■ 

Est  igitur  respublica  res  populi ;  populus  autem  non  omnis 
hominum  coetus,  quoquo  modo  congregatus,  sed  coetus 
multitudinis  juris  consensu  et  utilitatis  communione 
sociatus.     I,  25. 

A  state  is  the  common  weal  of  a  people;  but  a  people  is  not 
every  assembly  of  men  brought  together  in  any  way;  it  is  an 
assembly  of  men  united  together  by  the  bonds  of  just  laws,  and 
by  common  advantages. 

Omnis  civitas,  omnis  respublica  consilio  quodam  regenda 
est,  ut  diuturna  sit.     I,  26. 

Every  state,  every  commonwealth  is  to  be  governed  by  pru- 
dence, if  it  is  to  be  lasting. 

Cum  penes  unum  est  omnium  summa  rerum,  regem  ilium 
unum  vocamus  et  regnum  ejus  reipublicae  statum.  Cum 
autem  est  penes  delectos,  turn  ilia  civitas  optimatium 
arbitrio  regi  dicitur.  Ilia  autem  est  civitas  popularis,  sic 
enim  appellant,  in  qua  in  populo  sunt  omnia.     1,  26. 

When  the  government  is  in  the  hands  of  one  individual,  we  call 
such  a  man  a  king  and  the  state  a  kingdom.     When  it  is  in  the 


DE  REPUBLICA  53; 

hands  of  a  select  body,  that  form  of  government  is  aristocratic.    De 

But  that  state  is  a  republic,  so  they  call  it,  when  everything  is  Republica. 

dependent  on  the  people. 

Nulla  alia  civitate,  nisi  in  qua  populi  potestas  summa  est, 
ullum  domicilium  libertas  habet,  qua  quidem  certe  nihil 
potest  esse  dulcius.    I,  31. 

In  no  other  state  except  that  in  which  the  power  of  the  people 
is  supreme  has  liberty  any  abode,  than  which  nothing  assuredly 
can  be  more  delightful. 

Si  pecunias  aequari  non  placet,  si  ingenia  omnium  paria 
esse  non  possunt,  jura  certe  paria  debent  esse  eorum  inter 
se,  qui  sunt  cives  in  eadem  republica.     I,  32. 

If  all  cannot  be  equal  in  property,  if  the  talents  of  all  cannot  be 
the  same,  the  laws  at  least  should  be  the  same  to  those  who  are 
citizens  in  the  same  state. 

Si  jus  suum  populi  teneant,  negant  quidquam  esse  prae- 
stantius,  liberius,  beatius,  quippe  qui  domini  sint  legum, 
judiciorum,  belli,  pacis,  foederum,  capitis  unius  cujusque, 
pecuniae.    I,  32. 

If  the  people  hold  the  supreme  power,  they  affirm  that  no  form 
of  government  is  more  excellent,  more  free,  more  happy,  inasmuch 
as  they  are  the  masters  of  laws,  courts,  war,  peace,  leagues,  lives, 
and  fortunes  of  everyone. 

Si  enim  pecunias  aequari  non  placet;  si  ingenia  omnium 
paria  esse  non  possunt:  jura  certe  paria  debent  esse  eorum 
inter  se,  qui  sunt  cives  in  eadem  republica.    I,  32. 

If  an  equal  distribution  of  wealth  is  unpopular,  if  equality  of 
intelligence  is  an  impossibility,  at  least  there  should  be  equality 
before  the  law  among  all  those  who  are  citizens  of  the  same  state. 

Nam  aequabilitas  quidem  juris,  quam  amplexantur  liberi 
populi,  neque  servari  potest:  ipsi  enim  populi,  quamvis 
soluti  effrenatique  sint,  praecipue  multis  multa  tribuunt, 
et  est  in  ipsis  magnus  delectus  hominum  et  dignitatum; 
eaque  quae  appellator  aequabilitas  iniquissima  est.  I,  34. 
For  equality  of  rights,  of  which  a  free  people  is  so  fond,  cannot 
be  maintained ;  for  the  very  people  themselves,  though  they  are 
their  own  masters,  and  perfectly  uncontrolled,  give  up  much  power 
to  many  of  their  fellow-citizens,  showing  cringing  respect  to  men 


534  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  and  dignities.     That  which  is  called  equality  is  most  iniquitous 

Republica.        m  its  acts. 

Apud  bonum  judicem,  argumenta  plus  quam  testes  valent. 

1,34- 

In  the  eyes  of  a  wise  judge,  proofs  by  reasoning  are  of  more 
value  than  witnesses. 

Nam  divitiae,  nomen,  opes  vacuae  consilio  et  vivendi 
atque  aliis  imperandi  modo,  dedecoris  plenae  sunt  et  inso- 
lentis  superbiae:  nee  ulla  deformior  species  est  civitatis, 
quam  ilia  in  qua  opulentissimi  optimi  putantur.     I,  34. 

For  riches,  great  fame,  wealth  unaccompanied  by  wisdom  and 
the  knowledge  of  living  virtuously  and  commanding  properly,  are 
only  the  cause  of  greater  disgrace,  and  of  exhibiting  insolence  in 
more  glaring  colors;  nor  is  there  any  form  of  state  more  disgrace- 
ful to  men  than  that  in  which  the  wealthiest  are  regarded  the 
noblest. 

Si  quando  aut  regi  justo  vim  populus  attulerit  regnove 
eum  spoliavit;  aut  etiam,  id  quod  evenit  saepius,  optima- 
tium  sanguinem  gustavit,  ac  totam  rempublicam  substravit 
libidini  suae;  cave  putes  autem  mare  ullum  aut  flammam 
esse  tantam,  quam  non  facilius  sit  sedare,  quam  eff renatam 
insolentia  multitudinem.    I,  42. 

When  a  people  has  once  treated  with  violence  a  just  king,  or 
hurled  him  from  his  throne,  or  even  —  which  has  often  happened 
—  has  tasted  the  blood  of  the  nobles,  and  subjected  the  whole 
commonwealth  to  their  fury,  do  not  be  foolish  enough  to  imagine 
that  it  would  be  easier  to  calm  the  most  furious  hurricane  at  sea,  or 
flames  of  fire,  than  to  curb  the  unbridled  insolence  of  the  multitude. 

Sic  tanquam  pilam  rapiunt  inter  se  reipublicae  statum, 
tyranni  ab  regibus;  ab  iis  autem  principes  aut  populi;  a 
quibus  aut  factiones  aut  tyranni;  nee  diutius  unquam 
tenetur  idem  reipublicae  modus.     I,  44. 

Then  tyrants  snatch  the  government  from  kings  as  in  a  game 
of  ball;  from  them  the  nobles  or  people  in  their  turn,  to  whom 
succeed  factious  parties  or  tyrants;  nor  does  the  same  form  of 
government  ever  remain  for  any  length  of  time. 

Nimiaque  ilia  libertas  et  populis  et  privatis  in  nimiam 
servitutem  cadit.     I,  44. 


DE  REPUBLIC  A  535 

That   excess   of    liberty,    both   with   nations   and    individuals,    De 
eventuates  in  an  excess  of  servitude.  Republica. 

Quod  cum  ita  sit,  tribus  primis  generibus  longe  praestat 
mea  sententia  regium;  regio  autem  ipsi  praestabit  id,  quod 
erit  aequatum  et  temperatum  ex  tribus  optimis  rerum  pub- 
licarum  modis.  Placet  enim  esse  quiddam  in  republica 
praestans  et  regale;  esse  aliud  auctoritate  principum 
partum  ac  tributum;  esse  quasdam  res  servatas  judicio 
voluntatique  multitudinis.    I,  45. 

Since  this  is  so,  in  my  opinion  monarchy  is  by  far  the  best  of 
the  three  forms;  but  the  monarchical  is  excelled  by  that  which  is 
made  up  and  formed  of  the  three  best  kinds  of  government.  In  a 
state  there  ought  to  be  something  super-eminent  and  royal ;  another 
portion  of  power  ought  to  be  assigned  to  the  nobles,  and  some 
ought  to  be  reserved  for  the  lower  classes. 

Nostra  autem  respublica  non  unius  esset  ingenio,  sed  mul- 
torum,  nee  una  hominis  vita,  sed  aliquot  constituta  seculis 
et  aetatibus.    II,  1. 

Our  state  did  not  spring  from  the  brain  of  one  man,  but  of 
many;  nor  was  it  consolidated  in  a  lifetime,  but  in  the  course  of 
generations  and  centuries. 

Est  maritimis  urbibus  quaedam  corruptela  ac  demutatio 
morum :  admiscentur  enim  novis  sermonibus  ac  disciplinis, 
et  importantur  non  merces  solum  adventiciae,  sed  etiam 
mores,  ut  nihil  possit  in  patriis  institutis  manere  integrum. 
II,  4. 

In  maritime  cities  there  is  a  certain  corruption  and  change  of 

habits;  for  they  are  intermingling  with  new  modes  of  speech  and 

manners,  and   there  are  imported  not  only  foreign   merchandise 

but  manners  also,  so  there  is  no  fixity  in  the  institutions  of  the 

\    country. 

Semper  in  republica  tenendum  est,  ne  plurimum  valeant 
plurimi.     II,  22. 

In  a  state  this  rule  ought  always  to  be  observed,  that  the  greatest 
1    number  should  not  have  the  predominant  power. 

Ipsum  regale  genus  civitatis  non  modo  non  est  repre- 
hendendum,  sed  haud  scio  an  reliquis  simplicibus  longe 
anteponendum.    II,  23. 


536  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

De  A  royal  form  of  government  is  not  only  not  to  be  found  fault 

Republica.        with,  but  I  know  not  whether  it  is  not  to  be  far  preferred  to  other 
simple  forms. 

Sine  summa  justitia  rem  publicam  geri  nullo  modo  posse. 
II,  44.     • 

Without  the  most  inflexible  justice  it  is  impossible  to  direct  a 
state. 

Justitia  praecipit  parcere  omnibus,  consulere  generi  ho- 
minum,  suum  cuique  reddere,  sacra,  publica,  aliena  non 
tangere.    in,  12. 

Justice  commands  us  to  have  mercy  on  all  men,  to  consult  for 
the  interests  of  mankind,  to  give  everyone  his  due,  not  to  commit 
sacrilege,  and  not  to  covet  the  goods  of  others. 

Nulla  est  tarn  stulta  civitas,  quae  non  injuste  imperare 
malit,  quam  servire  juste.     Ill,  18. 

There  is  no  community  so  foolish  as  not  to  prefer  unlawful 
dominion  to  lawful  servitude. 

Est  vera  lex  recta  ratio,  naturae  congruens,   diffusa   in 
omnes,    constans,    sempiterna,    quae    vocet    ad    officium 
jubendo,   a  fraude  deterreat,  quae  tamen  neque  probos 
frustra  jubet  aut  vetat,  nee  improbos  jubendo  aut  vetando 
movet.    Huic  legi  nee  abrogari  fas  est,  neque  derogari  ex 
hac  aliquid  licet,  neque  tota  abrogari  potest;  nee  vero  aut  j 
per  senatum  aut  per  populum  solvi  hac  lege  possumus;  \ 
neque  est  quaerendus  explanator  aut  interpres  ejus  alius; 
nee  erit  alia   lex   Romae,   alia  Athenis,   alia   nunc,    alia  , 
posthac,  sed  et  omnes  gentes  et  omni  tempore  una  lex  et  j 
sempiterna  et  immutabilis  continebit,  unusque  erit  com-  j 
munis  quasi  magister  et  imperator  omnium  deus,  ille  legis ; 
hujus  inventor,   disceptator,  lator;  cui  qui  non  parebit,  j 
luet    maximas    poenas,    etiamsi    cetera    supplicia,    quae 
ipse  se  fugiet,  ac  naturam  hominis  aspernatus  hoc  ipso 
putantur,  effugerit.    Ill,  22. 

True  law  is  right  reason,  in  unison  with  nature,  pervading  all, 
never  varying,  eternal,  which  summons  man  to  duty  by  its  com- 
mands, deters  him  from  fraudulent  acts,  which,  moreover,  neither 
commands  nor  forbids  the  good  in  vain,  nor  yet  affects  the  bad  by 
commanding  or  forbidding.  It  is  not  allowable  to  annul  this  law, 
nor  is  it  lawful  to  take  anything  from  it,  nor  to  abrogate  it  alto- 


SOMNIUM  SCIPIONIS 


537 


gether ;  nor  are  we  able  to  be  released  from  it,  either  by  the  Senate   De 

or  by  the  people ;  nor  is  there  any  other  expounder  or  interpreter    Republica. 

to  be  sought ;  nor  will  there  be  one  law  for  Rome,  another  law  for 

Athens,  one  law  today,  another  law  tomorrow,  but  one  eternal 

and  immutable  law  for  all  nations  and  for  all  ages,  as  God  the 

common  master  and  ruler  of  all  —  the  author,  the  interpreter,  the 

enforcer  of  the  law  —  is  one.     Whoever  does  not  obey  it  will  fly 

from  himself,  and  despise  the  nature  of  man,  and  by  that  very 

circumstance  will  suffer  the  severest  punishments,  though  he  may 

escape  other  things  which  men  are  wont  to  regard  as  punishments. 

Nullum  bellum  suscipi  a  civitate  optima,  nisi  aut  pro  fide 
aut  pro  salute.    Ill,  23. 

War  should  only  be  undertaken  by  a  highly  civilized  state  to 
preserve  either  its  religion  or  its  existence. 

Vult  plane  virtus  honorem;  nee  est  virtutis  ulla  alia 
merces.     Ill,  28. 

Virtue  truly  desires  honor;  nor  is  there  any  other  reward  of 
virtue. 

In  dissensione  civili,  cum  boni  plus  quam  multi  valent, 
expendendos  cives,  non  numerandos  puto.  VI,  1  [Frag- 
ment]. 

In  civil  dissensions,  where  character  is  worth  more  than  mere 
jNombers^  Ave  should,  I  think,  weigh  our  fellow-citizens,  and  not 
count  them  merely. 

Ii  vivunt  qui  ex  corporum  vinculis,  tanquam  e  carcere, 
evolaverunt.     VI,  14. 

Those  truly  live  who  have  escaped  from  the  fetters  of  the  body, 
as  from  a  prison. 


(SOMNIUM  SCIPIONIS) 

Sic  habeto,  omnibus  qui  patriam  conservarint,  adjuverint,  Somnium 
auxerint,  certum  esse  in  coelo  ac  definitum  locum,  ubi  beati  Sdpionis. 
aevo  sempiterno  fruantur.  Nihil  est  enim  illi  principi 
Deo,  qui  omnem  hunc  mundum  regit,  quod  quidem  in 
terris  fiat,  acceptius,  quam  concilia,  coetusque  hominum, 
jure  sociati,  quae  civitates  appellantur;  harum  rectores  et 
conservatores  hinc  profecti,  hue  revertuntur.     3. 

Be  persuaded  that  there  is  a  certain  separate  place  in  heaven 
for  those  who  have  preserved,  aided,  and  ameliorated  their  country, 


538  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Somnium  where  they  may  enjoy  happiness  to  all  eternity.  For  there  is 
Scipionis.  nothing  on  earth  which  gives  more  pleasure  to  that  Supreme  Being 
who  governs  this  world,  than  the  meetings  and  assemblies  of  men, 
bound  together  by  social  rights,  which  are  called  states;  the  gov- 
ernors and  the  preservers  of  these  coming  thence  return  to  the 
same  place. 

Immo  vero,  inquit,  ii  vlvunt,  qui  ex  corporum  vinculis, 
tamquam  e  carcere,  evolaverunt:  vestra  vero,  quae  dicitur 
vita  mors  est.     3. 

No  doubt,  replied  Scipio,  those  are  alive  who  have  broken  loose 
from  the  chains  of  the  body  as  from  a  prison;  your  condition  — 
called  life  —  is  in  truth  but  death. 


>■ 


Nisi  Deus  is,  cujus  hoc  templum  est  omne,  quod  conspicis 
istis  te  corporis  custodiis  liberaverit,  hue  tibi  aditus  pater 
non  potest.     3. 

Unless  the  God,  whose  temple  the  whole  of  this  is  which  thou 
beholdest,  shall  release  thee  from  these  bonds  of  the  body,  thou 
canst  not  enter  here. 

Quare  et  tibi,  Publi,  et  piis  omnibus  retinendus  est  animus 
in  custodia  corporis;  nee  injussu  ejus,  a  quo  ille  est  vobis 
datus,  ex  hominum  vita  migrandum  est,  ne  munus 
humanum  assignatum  a  Deo  defugisse  videamini.     3. 

Wherefore,  Publius,  thou  and  all  the  good  must  keep  the  soul^ 
in  the  body,  nor  must  men  leave  this  life  without  the  permission  of 
the  Being  by  whom  it  has  been  given,  lest  thou  shouldst  seem 
to  treat  contemptuously  the  gift  of  life  conferred  on  thee  by  the 
Supreme  Being. 

Igitur  alte  spectare  si  voles,  atque  hanc  sedem,  et  aeter- 
nam  domum  contueri :  neque  te  sermonibus  vulgi  dederis, ; 
nee  in  praemiis  humanis  spem  posueris  rerum  tuarum  :  sui$i 
te  oportet  illecebris  ipsa  virtus  trahat  ad  verum  decus; 
quid  de  te  alii  loquantur,  ipsi  videant:  sed  loquentur 
tamen.     7. 

Therefore,  if  thou  wilt  only  turn  thy  eyes  upwards,  and  look  to 
that  heavenly  abode  and  eternal  dwelling-place,  thou  wilt  pay  no  I 
regard  to  the  gossip  of  the  vulgar,  nor  place  thy  hopes  in  the  j 
rewards  of  men ;  virtue  by  its  allurements  must  attract  thee  to  I 
true  honor;  what  others  say  of  thee  let  them  see  to  it,  yet  talk « 
they  will. 


DE  SENECTUTE  539 

Tu  vero  enitere,  et  sic  habeto,  non  esse  te  mortalem,  sed  Somnium 
corpus  hoc.  Non  enim  tu  is  es  quern  forma  ista  declarat:  Scipionis. 
sed  mens  cujusque,  is  est  quisque;  non  ea  figura,  quae 
digito  demonstrari  potest.  Deum  te  igitur  scito  esse: 
siquidem  Deus  est,  qui  viget,  qui  sentit,  qui  meminit,  qui 
providet,  qui  tarn  regit,  et  moderatur,  et  movet  id  corpus, 
cui  praepositus  est,  quam  hunc  mundum  ille  princeps 
Deus :  et  ut  mundum  ex  quadam  parte  mortalem  ipse  Deus 
aeternus,  sic  fragile  corpus  animus  sempiternus  movet.  8. 
Do  thou  exert  thyself,  and  believe  that  it  is  not  thou  but  thy 
body  that  is  mortal.  For  thou  art  not  the  being  whom  this  figure 
shows,  but  the  mind  is  the  man,  and  not  the  figure  which  can  be 
pointed  at  with  the  finger.  Know  therefore  that  thou  art  a  divine 
being,  since  it  is  a  Deity  in  thee  which  moves,  feels,  remembers, 
foresees,  rules,  and  governs  that  body  over  which  it  is  placed,  in 
the  very  same  way  as  the  Supreme  Being  governs  this  world ;  and 
as  the  Eternal  God  directs  this  world,  which  is  in  a  certain  degree 
mortal,  so  the  never-dying  spirit  directs  the  frail  body. 


DE  SENECTUTE 

Quibus  nihil  opis  est  in  ipsis  ad  bene  beateque  vivendum,  DeSenectute. 

iis  omnis  gravis  est  aetas:  qui  autem  omnia  bona  a  se  ipsi 

petunt,  iis  nihil  potest  malum  videri,  quod  naturae  neces- 

sitas  afferat.     Quo  in  genere  in  primis  est  senectus:  quam 

ut  adipiscantur  omnes  optant,   eandem   accusant  adepti : 

tanta  est  inconstantia  stultitiae,  atque  perversitas.     Obre- 

pere   aiunt  earn   citius   quam   putassent.      Primum,   quis 

coegit  eos  falsum  putare?  qui  enim  citius  adolescentiae 

senectus,  quam  pueritiae  adolescentia  obrepit?     Deinde, 

qui  minus  gravis  esset  iis  senectus,   si   octingentesimum 

annum    agerent,    quam    octogesimum?    praeterita    enim 

aetas,  quamvis  longa,  cum  effluxisset,  nulla  consolatione 

permulcere  posset  stultam  senectutem.     2. 

Every  stage  of  life  is  a  burden  to  those  who  have  no  fund  of 
happiness  within  themselves:  but  they  who  derive  all  their  felicity 
from  this  source  cannot  possibly  think  anything  grievous  that 
proceeds  from  the  stated  order  of  nature.  In  which  class  old  age 
may,  in  a  special  manner,  be  ranked :  the  attainment  whereof  is 
the  universal  wish  of  mankind ;  who  make  it  no  less  the  subject  of 
complaint,  when  obtained.  So  great  is  the  mutability  of  their 
folly  and  perverseness !     It  has  stolen  upon  us,  say  they,  sooner 


540  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeSenectute.  than  we  could  have  imagined.  But  then  who  obliged  them  to 
make  a  false  computation?  For  how  faster,  pray,  does  old  age 
creep  upon  youth,  than  youth  upon  infancy?  Again,  what  less 
burdensome  would  old  age  be,  should  they  live  to  eight  hundred 
years,  than  it  is  at  eighty?  For  the  past  part  of  life,  however 
long  that  may  be,  can  afford  no  satisfaction  to  comfort  an  old  age 
ridiculous  in  itself. 

Quocirca  si  sapientiam  meam  admirarl  soletis,  in  hoc 
sumus  sapientes,  quod  naturam  optimam  ducem  tanquam 
deum  sequimur  eique  paremus.     2. 

Wherefore  if  I  have  any  claim  to  that  wisdom  which  you  are 
wont  to  admire,  it  lies  in  this,  that  I  follow  nature  with  implicit 
obedience  and  resign  myself  to  all  her  sacred  ordinances. 

Sed  tamen  necesse  fuit  esse  aliquid  extremum,  et  tamquam 
in  arborum  baccis,  terraeque  frugibus  maturitate  tempes- 
tiva,  quasi  vietum,  et  caducum :  quod  ferendum  est  molli- 
ter  sapienti.  Quid  enim  est  aliud,  gigantum  modo  bellare 
cum  diis,  nisi  naturae  repugnare?    2. 

It  was  absolutely  necessary  that  some  term  should  be  set,  and 
that,  as  it  is  with  the  fruits  of  trees  and  of  the  earth,  seasons 
should  be  allowed  for  their  springing,  growing,  ripening,  and  at 
last  to  drop.  This  wise  men  will  cheerfully  submit  to ;  nor  could 
anything  else  be  meant  by  the  stories  told  of  the  giants  warring 
against  the  gods,  than  men's  rebelling  against  nature  and  its  laws. 

Importunitas  autem,  et  inhumanitas  omni  aetati  molesta 
est.     3. 

But  a  perverse  temper  and  fretful  disposition  will,  wherever 
they  prevail,  render  any  state  of  life  whatsoever  unhappy. 

Ut  Themistocles  fertur  Seriphio  cuidam  in  jurgio  respon- 
disse,  quum  ille  dixisset  non  eum  sua,  sed  patriae  gloria 
splendorem  assecutum :  Nee  hercule,  inquit,  si  ego  Seri- 
phius  essem  nobilis;  nee  tu,  si  Atheniensis  esses,  clarus 
umquam  fuisses.     3. 

When  a  certain  native  of  the  island  of  Seriphos  told  Themis- 
tocles in  some  altercation,  that  he  was  indebted  for  his  illustrious 
fame  not  to  the  intrinsic  merit  of  his  actions,  but  to  the  country  I 
in  which  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  born,  "It  may  be  so," 
replied  the  Athenian  general,  "for  if  I  had  been  born  at  Seriphos, 
I  could  have  had  no  opportunity  of  developing  my  talents;  but 


DE  SENECTUTE  541 

permit  me  to  remind  you  that  yours  would  never  have  cut  any   DeSenectute. 
figure  though  you  had  been  born  at  Athens." 

Aptissima  omnino  sunt,  Scipio  et  Laeli,  arma  senectutis, 
artes,  exercitationesque  virtutum,  quae  in  omni  aetate 
cultae,  cum  multum,  diuque  vixeris,  mirificos  efferunt 
fructus,  non  solum  quia  numquam  deserunt,  ne  in  extremo 
quidem  tempore  aetatis  (quamquam  id  maximum  est), 
verum  etiam  quia  conscientia  bene  actae  vitae,  multo- 
rumque  benefactorum  recordatio,  jucundissima  est.     3. 

But  the  best  armor  of  old  age,  Scipio  and  Laelius,  is  a  well- 
spent  life  preceding  it;  a  life  employed  in  the  pursuit  of  useful 
knowledge,  in  honorable  actions  and  in  the  practice  of  virtue ;  in 
which  he  who  labors  to  improve  himself  from  his  youth  will  in 
age  reap  the  happiest  fruits  of  them;  not  only  because  these  never 
leave  a  man,  not  even  in  the  extremest  old  age,  but  because  a 
conscience  bearing  witness  that  our  life  was  well  spent,  together 
with  the  remembrance  of  past  good  actions,  yields  an  unspeakable 
comfort  to  the  soul. 

Pares  autem,  vetere  proverbio,  paribus  facillime  congre- 
gantur.    3. 

As  the  old  proverb  says,  like  readily  consorts  with  like. 

Est  etiam  quiete  et  pure  et  eleganter  actae  aetatis  placida 
ac  lenis  senectus.     5. 

A  life  of  peace,  purity,  and  refinement  leads  to  a  calm  and 
untroubled  old  age. 

"Sicut  fortis  equus,  spatio  quae  saepe  supreme 
Vicit  Olympia,  nunc  senio  confectu'  quiescit." 

[Ennius,  quoted  by  Cicero]  5. 

Like  the  stout  horse  which  oft  has  borne  away 

The  prize,  now,  weak  with  age,  he  rest  enjoys. 

Temeritas  est  videlicet  florentis  aetatis,  prudentia 
senescentis.     6. 

Rashness  is  characteristic  of  youth,  prudence  of  maturity. 

Non  viribus,  aut  velocitatibus,  aut  celeritate  corporum  res 
magnae  geruntur:  sed  consilio,  auctoritate,  sententia: 
quibus  non  modo  non  orbari,  sed  etiam  augeri  senectus 
solet.     6. 


542  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeSenectute.  For  it  is  neither  by  bodily  strength,  nor  swiftness,  nor  agility, 
that  momentous  affairs  are  carried  on,  but  by  judgment,  counsel, 
and  authority,  the  abilities  for  which  are  so  far  from  failing  in  old 
age,  that  they  truly  increase  with  it. 

Nee  vero  dubitet  agricola,  quamvis  senex,  quaerenti,  cui 
serat,  respondere:  Diis  immortalibus,  qui  me  non  acci- 
pere  modo  haec  a  majoribus  voluerunt,  sed  etiam  posteris 
prodere.     7. 

Nor,  if  you  ask  one  of  these  men  for  whom  it  is  he  is  thus 
laboring,  will  he  be  at  any  loss  to  answer  thus:  "I  do  it,"  he  will 
say,  "for  the  immortal  gods,  who,  as  they  bestowed  these  grounds 
on  me,  require  at  my  hands  that  I  should  transmit  them  improved 
to  posterity,  who  are  to  succeed  me  in  the  possession  of  them." 

Nemo  enim  est  tarn  senex,  qui  se  annum  non  putet  posse 
vivere.     7. 

There  is  no  one  so  old  but  thinks  he  can  live  a  year. 

Libidinosa  etenim,  et  intemperans  adolescentia  effoetum 
corpus  tradit  senectuti.     9. 

A  youth  of  sensuality  and  intemperance  delivers  over  a  worn- 
out  body  to  old  age. 

Quid  enim  est  jucundius  senectute  stipata  studiis  juven- 
tutis?  An  ne  eas  quidem  vires  senectuti  relinquimus,  ut 
adolescentes  doceat,  instituat,  ad  omne  officii  munuj 
instruat?  quo  quidem  opere  quid  potest  esse  prae- 
clarius?    9. 

Indeed  what  is  there  more  pleasing  than  old  age  encompassed 
by  the  vigor  of  childhood  ?  I  suppose  it  will  not  be  denied  that 
old  age  possesses  the  faculties  necessary  for  instructing  the  youth 
and  training  them  in  every  noble  duty.  What  occupation,  indeed, 
could  be  more  splendid  than  this? 

Quod  est,  eo  decet  uti:  et  quicquid  agas,  agere  pro 
viribus.     9. 

What  one  has,  that  one  ought  to  use ;  and  whatever  we  take  in 
hand,  we  ought  to  do  it  with  all  our  might. 

Utrum  igitur  has  corporis,  an  Pythagorae  tibi  malis  vires 
ingenii  dari?  denique  isto  bono  utare,  dum  adsit:  cum 
absit,    ne   requiras.      Nisi   forte   adolescentes   pueritiam, ' 


DE  SENECTUTE  543 

paullum  aetate  progressi  adolescentiam  debeant  requirere.  DeSenectute. 
Cursus  est  certus  aetatis,  et  una  via  naturae,  eaque  sim- 
plex: suaque  cuique  parti  aetatis,  tempestivitas  est  data; 
ut  et  infirmitas  puerorum,  et  ferocitas  juvenum,  et  gravi- 
tas  jam  constantis  aetatis,  et  senectutis  maturitas  naturale 
quiddam  habeat,  quod  suo  tempore  percipi  debeat.  10. 
Now,  if  the  choice  were  given  you,  which  would  you  prefer, 
Milo's  strength  of  body,  or  Pythagoras'  abilities  of  mind?  In 
short,  while  you  have  strength  use  it ;  when  it  leaves  you,  no  more 
repine  for  the  want  of  it,  than  you  did  when  lads  that  your  child- 
hood was  past,  or  at  the  years  of  manhood  that  you  were  no  longer 
boys.  The  stages  of  life  are  fixed ;  nature  is  the  same  in  all,  and 
goes  on  in  a  plain  and  steady  course:  every  part  of  life,  like  the 
year,  has  its  peculiar  season :  as  children  are  by  nature  weak,  youth 
is  rash  and  bold ;  staid  manhood  more  solid  and  grave ;  and  so  old 
age  in  its  maturity  has  something  natural  to  itself  that  ought  par- 
ticularly to  recommend  it. 

Nee  enim  unquam  sum  assensus  veteri  1111  laudatoque 
proverbio,  quod  monet,  mature  fieri  senem,  si  diu  velis 
senex  esse.     10. 

I  have  never  admitted  the  truth  of  the  old  and  accepted  saying, 
which  asserts  that  you  will  early  become  an  old  man,  if  you  have 
long  desired  to  be  one. 

Corpora  quidem  defatigatione,  et  exercitatione  ingraves- 
cunt;  animi  autem  exercitando  levantur.     II. 

The  body,  we  know,  when  over-labored,  becomes  heavy,  and, 
as  it  were,  jaded;  but  it  is  exercise  alone  that  supports  the  spirits 
and  keeps  the  mind  vigorous. 

,  Ut  enim  adolescentem,  in  quo  est  senile  aliquid,  sic  senem, 
\  in  quo  est  aliquid  adolescentis,  probo;  quod  qui  sequitur, 

corpore  senex  esse  poterit,  animo  numquam  erit.     II. 
I        As  I  love  to  see  the  ardor  of  youth  somewhat  tempered  with 
1   the  gravity  of  age,  so  I  am  equally  pleased  to  see  the  torpor  of  age 
i  enlivened  by  the  brightness  of  youth ;  and  he  who  unites  these 

qualities,  though  years  advance,  will  remain  ever  young  in  spirit. 

;  Pythagoreorum  more  exercendae  memoriae  gratia,  quid 
quoque  die  dixerim,  audierim,  egerim,  commemoro 
vesperi.     1 1. 


544  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeSenectute.  For  the  purpose  of  training  my  memory  I  have  observed  the 
custom  of  the  Pythagoreans  in  recalling  at  evening  whatever  I 
have  said  or  heard  or  done  in  the  course  of  the  day. 

Ista  senilis  stultitia,  quae  deliratio  appellari  solet,  senum 
levium  est,  non  omnium,     n. 

That  senile  stupidity  which  we  call  dotage  is  not  characteristic 
of  all  old  men,  but  only  of  those  of  small  mental  capacity. 

Voluptas  mentis  (ut  ita  dicam)  praestringit  oculos,  nee 
habet  ullum  cum  virtute  commercium.     12. 

Pleasure  blinds,  so  to  say,  the  eyes  of  the  mind,  and  has  no 
fellowship  with  virtue. 

Cumque  homini  sive  natura,  sive  quis  deus  nihil  mente 
praestabilius  dedisset;  huic  divino  muneri,  ac  dono  nihil 
esse  tarn  inimicum,  quam  voluptatem.     12. 

It  is  owned  that  the  most  noble  and  excellent  gift  of  heaven  to 
man  is  reason ;  and  it  is  as  sure,  that  of  all  the  enemies  reason  has 
to  engage  with,  pleasure  is  the  most  capital. 

Nullam  capitaliorem  pestem,  quam  corporis  voluptatem, 
hominibus  dicebat  a  natura  datam :  cujus  voluptatis  avidae 
libidines,  temere,  et  effrenate  ad  potiundum  incitarentur. 
Hinc  patriae  proditiones,  hinc  rerumpublicarum  ever- 
siones,  hinc  cum  hostibus  clandestina  colloquia  nasci.  12. 
"The  greatest  curse,"  said  he,  "derived  by  man  from  nature  i$« 
bodily  pleasure  when  the  passions  are  indulged,  and  strong,  inordi-  j 
nate  desires  are  raised  and  set  in  motion  for  obtaining  it.  For 
this  have  men  betrayed  their  country ;  for  this  have  states  and 
governments  been  plunged  in  ruin ;  for  this  have  treacherous  cor- 
respondences been  held  with  public  enemies." 

Sed  si  aliquid  dandum  est  voluptati,  quoniam  ejus  blandi-! 
tiis  non  facile  obsistimus  (divine  enim  Plato  escam 
malorum,  voluptatem  appellat,  quod  ea  videlicet  homines 
capiantur,  ut  hamo  pisces),  quamquam  immoderatis: 
epulis  careat  senectus,  modicis  tamen  conviviis  delectari 
potest.     13. 

Yet  as  nature  has  so  ordered  it,  that  pleasure  should  have  a  vei 
strong  hold  on  us,  and  the  inclination  to  it  appears  deeply  foundc 
in  our  very  composition  (and  it  is  with  too  much  justice  that  tl 
divine  Plato  calls  it  the  bait  of  evil,  by  which  men  are  caught 


DE  SENECTUTE  545 

fish  with  a  hook)  ;  therefore  though  age  is  not  taken,  nor  can  well    DeSenectute, 
bear  with  those  splendid  sumptuous  feastings  and  revels,  yet  we 
are  not  so  insensible  to  the  pleasures  of  life,  but  that  we  can 
indulge  ourselves. 

Venio  nunc  ad  voluptates  agricolarum,  quibus  ego  incredi- 
biliter  delector:  quae  nee  ulla  impediuntur  senectute,  et 
mihi  ad  sapientis  vitam  proxime  videntur  accedere.  15. 
But  I  am  now  come  to  speak  of  the  pleasures  of  a  country  life, 
with  which  I  am  infinitely  delighted.  To  these  old  age  never  is 
an  obstruction.  It  is  the  life  of  nature,  and  appears  to  me  the 
precise  course  which  a  wise  man  ought  to  follow. 

Habet  senectus,  honorata  praesertim,  tantam  auctoritatem, 
ut  ea  pluris  sit,  quam  omnes  adolescentiae  voluptates.  17. 
Old  age  in  a  person  graced  with  honors  is  attended  with  such 
respect  and  authority  that  the  sense  of  this  alone  is  preferable  to 
all  the  pleasures  youth  can  enjoy. 

Apex  est  autem  senectutis  auctoritas.     17. 
The  crown  of  old  age  is  authority. 

Ut  enim  non  omne  vinum,  sic  non  omnis  aetas  vetustate 
coacescit.     18. 

Neither  every  wine  nor  every  life  turns  to  vinegar  with  age. 

Avaritia  vero  senilis  quid  sibi  velit  non  intelligo.  Potest 
enim  quidquam  esse  absurdius  quam  quo.  minus  viae  restat, 
eo  plus  viatici  quaerere?     18. 

I  can  never  understand  avarice  in  an  old  man.  For  what  can 
be  more  absurd  than  to  add  more  and  more  to  the  provision  for 
your  journey  as  you  draw  nearer  to  its  end? 

Sensi  ego  in  optimo  filio,  tu  in  exspectatis  ad  amplissimam 
dignitatem  fratribus,  Scipio,  mortem  omni  aetati  esse 
communem.     19. 

I  in  my  noble  son,  you,  Scipio,  in  your  brothers,  who  had  given 
promise  of  the  highest  distinction,  have  felt  that  death  is  the 
common  heritage  of  every  age. 

O  dii  boni!  quid  est  in  hominis  vita  diu?  da  enim  supre- 
mum  tempus :  expectemus  Tartessiorum  regis  aetatem : 
fuit    enim    (ut   scriptum    video)    Arganthonius    quidam 


546  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeSenectute.  Gadibus,  qui  octoginta  regnavit  annos,  centum  et  viginti 
vixit:  Sed  mihi  ne  diuturnum  quidem  quidquam  videtur, 
in  quo  est  aliquid  extremum;  cum  enim  id  advenit,  tunc 
illud,  quod  praeteriit,  effluxit:  tantum  remanet,  quod  vir- 
tute,  et  recte  factis  consecutus  sis;  horae  quidem  cedunt, 
et  dies,  et  menses,  et  anni:  nee  praeteritum  tempus  urn- 
quam  revertitur,  nee  quid  sequatur,  sciri  potest;  quod 
cuique  temporis  ad  vivendum  datur,  eo  debet  esse  con- 
tentus.  Neque  enim  histrioni,  ut  placeat,  peragenda  est 
fabula,  modo,  in  quocumque,  fuerit  actu,  probetur:  neque 
sapienti  usque  ad  Plaudite  vivendum.  Breve  enim  tempus 
aetatis  satis  est  longum  ad  bene,  honesteque  vivendum.  1 9. 
Yet,  O  good  gods!  what  is  it  in  life  that  can  be  said  to  be  of 
long  duration?  Though  we  should  hold  it  to  the  utmost  extent  of 
age,  or  admit  we  should  live  the  days  of  that  Tartessian  king  (for 
I  have  read  that  one  Arganthonius  reigned  at  Cadiz  fourscore 
years,  and  lived  to  a  hundred  and  twenty),  yet  in  my  opinion 
nothing  can  properly  be  termed  lasting  that  has  a  certain  period 
fixed:  for  when  that  is  once  come,  all  the  past  is  over  and  gone; 
and  in  the  business  of  life,  when  that  is  run  out,  nothing  remains 
to  us  but  what  results  from  past  good  and  virtuous  actions.  The 
hours,  the  days,  the  months,  and  years,  all  slide  away,  nor  can  the 
past  time  ever  more  return,  or  what  is  to  follow  be  foreknown. 
We  ought  all  to  be  content  with  the  time  and  portion  assigned  us. 
No  man  expects  of  any  one  actor  in  the  theater  that  he  should 
perform  all  the  parts  of  the  piece  himself:  one  role  only  is  com- 
mitted to  him,  and  whatever  that  be,  if  he  acts  it  well,  he  is 
applauded.  In  the  same  way,  it  is  not  the  part  of  a  wise  man  to 
desire  to  be  busy  in  these  scenes  to  the  last  plaudit.  A  short  term 
may  be  long  enough  to  live  it  well  and  honorably. 

Horae  quidem  cedunt,  et  dies  et  menses  et  anni;  nee  prae- 
teritum tempus  unquam  revertitur,  nee  quid  sequatur  sciri 
potest.     19. 

The  hours  pass  by,  and  the  days  and  months  and  years;  the 
time  that  is  past  never  returns,  and  what  is  to  come  none  can  tell. 

Breve  enim  tempus  aetatis,  satis  longum  est  ad  bene 
honesteque  vivendum.     19. 

Our  span  of  life  is  brief,  but  it  is  long  enough  for  us  to  live  well 
and  honestly. 

Adolescentes  mihi  mori  sic  videntur,  ut  quam  aquae 
multitudine  vis  flammae  oprimitur;  senes  autem  sic,  ut 


DE  SENECTUTE  547 

cum    sua    sponte,    nulla    adhibita   vi,    consumptus    ignis  DeSenectute. 
exstinguitur.     19. 

The  death  of  the  young  seems  to  me  to  resemble  the  sudden 
extinction  of  a  flame  with  volumes  of  water;  the  old  seem  rather 
to  die  as  a  fire  which  flickers  out  of  itself. 

Moriendum  enim  certe  est:  et  id  incertum,  an  eo  ipso 
die.     20. 

No  man  can  be  ignorant  that  he  must  die,  nor  be  sure  that  he 
may  not  this  very  day. 

Vivendi  finis  est  optimus,  cum  integra  mente  ceterisque 
sensibus  opus  ipsa  suum  eadem,  quae  coagmentavit,  natura 
dissolvit.     20. 

The  best  close  to  life  is  when  the  same  nature,  which  has  united, 
puts  a  period  to  its  work,  while  the  mind  is  uninjured  and  all  the 
other  senses  are  sound. 

Nam,  dum  sumus  in  his  inclusi  compagibus  corporis, 
munere  quodam  necessitatis,  et  gravi  opere  perfungimur. 
Est  enim  animus  coelestis  ex  altissimo  domicilio  depressus, 
et  quasi  demersus  in  terram,  locum  divinae  naturae,  aeter- 
nitatique  contrarium.  Sed  credo,  deos  immortales  spar- 
sisse  animos  in  corpora  humana,  ut  esent,  qui  terras 
tuerentur,  quique  coelestium  ordinem  contemplantes,  imi- 
tarentur  eum  vitae  modo,  atque  constantia.     21. 

For  while  we  are  closed  in  these  mortal  frames,  our  bodies,  we 
are  bound  down  to  a  law  of  necessity,  that  obliges  us  with  labor 
and  pains  to  attend  to  the  discharge  of  the  several  incumbent  duties 
it  requires.  But  our  minds  are  of  a  heavenly  original,  descended 
from  the  blissful  seats  above,  thrust  down  and  immersed  into  these 
gross  habitations  of  the  earth,  a  situation  altogether  unsuitable  to 
a  divine  and  eternal  nature.  But  the  immortal  gods,  I  believe, 
thought  fit  to  throw  our  immortal  minds  into  these  human  bodies, 
that  the  earth  might  be  peopled  with  inhabitants  capable  of  con- 
templating and  admiring  the  beauty  and  order  of  the  heavens, 
and  the  whole  creation ;  that  from  this  great  exemplar  they  might 
form  their  conduct  and  regulate  their  lives,  with  the  like  unerring 
steadiness. 

Mihi  quidem  nunquam  persuaderi  potuit,  animos,  dum  in 
corporibus  essent  mortalibus,  vivere ;  cum  exiissent  ex  iis, 
emori ;  nee  vero,  turn  animum  esse  insipientem,  cum  ex 


548  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

DeSenectute.  insipienti  corpore  exiiset;  sed  cum  omni  admixtione  cor- 
poris liberatus,  purus  et  integer  esse  coepisset,  turn  esse 
sapientem.     22. 

I  never,  indeed,  could  persuade  myself  that  souls  confined  in 
these  mortal  bodies  can  be  properly  said  to  live,  and  that,  when 
they  leave  them,  they  die;  or  that  they  lose  all  sense  when  parted 
from  these  vehicles;  but,  on  the  contrary,  when  the  mind  is  wholly 
freed  from  all  corporeal  mixture,  and  begins  to  be  purified  and  to 
recover  itself  again,  then,  and  then  only,  it  becomes  truly  knowing 
and  wise. 

Atqui  dormientium  animi  maxime  declarant  divinitatem 
suam ;  multa  enim,  cum  remissi,  et  liberi  sunt,  futura  pro- 
spiciunt.  Ex  quo  intelligitur,  quales  futuri  sunt,  cum  se 
plane  corporis  vinculis  relaxaverint.     22. 

But  the  soul  in  sleep,  above  all  other  times,  gives  proofs  of  its 
divine  nature;  for  when  free  and  disengaged  from  the  immediate 
service  of  the  body,  it  has  frequently  a  foresight  of  things  to  come ; 
from  whence  we  may  more  clearly  conceive  what  will  be  its  state 
when  entirely  freed  from  this  bodily  prison. 

Quod  si  quis  deus  mihi  largiatur,  ut  ex  hac  aetate  repuer- 
iscam,  et  in  cunis  vagiam,  valde  recusem :  nee  vero  velim, 
quasi  decurso,  spatio,  ad  carceres  a  calce  revocari.     23. 

But  if  any  god  were  to  grant  that  at  this  age  I  might  become  a 
child  again  and  cry  in  the  cradle,  I  should  decidedly  refuse,  nor 
should  I  wish  to  be  recalled  from  the  goal  to  the  starting-post,  as 
if  it  were  a  race-course. 

Neque  me  vixisse  poenitet:  quoniam  ita  vixi,  ut  non 
f  rustra  me  natum  existimem :  et  ex  vita  ita  discedo,  tam- 
quam  ex  hospitio,  non  tamquam  ex  domo;  commorandi 
enim  natura  deversorium  nobis,  non  habitandi  locum 
dedit.    23. 

For  I  am  not  at  all  regretful  that  I  came  into,  and  have  so  far 
passed  my  course  in  this  world ;  because  I  have  so  lived  in  it,  that 
I  have  reason  to  believe  I  have  been  of  some  use  to  it ;  and  when 
the  close  comes,  I  shall  quit  life  as  I  would  an  inn,  and  not  as  a 
real  home.  For  nature  appears  to  me  to  have  ordained  this  station 
here  for  us,  as  a  place  of  sojourn,  a  transitory  abode  only,  and  not 
as  a  fixed  settlement  or  permanent  habitation. 

Quod  si  in  hoc  erro,  quod  animos  hominum  immortales 
esse  credam,  lubenter  erro;  nee  mihi  hunc  errorem,  quo 


EPISTOLAE  AD  BRUTUM   '  549 

delector,   dum  vivo  extorquere  volo.     Sin  mortuus    (ut  DeSenectute. 
quidam   minuti   philosophi   censent)    nihil   sentiam :   non 
vereor  ne  hunc  errorem  meum  philosophi  mortui   irri- 
deant.     23. 

If  I  am  in  error  in  believing  that  the  soul  of  man  is  immortal, 
I  err  willingly ;  nor  have  I  any  desire,  while  life  lasts,  to  eradicate 
the  error  in  which  I  take  delight.  But  if,  after  death  (as  some 
small  philosophers  think),  I  shall  feel  nothing,  I  have  no  fear  that 
those  departed  philosophers  will  ridicule  my  error. 

Habet  natura,   ut   aliarum   omnium    rerum,    sic   vivendi 
modum.     23. 

Nature  has  a  standard  of  living,  as  of  everything  else. 

O  praeclarum  diem,  quum  ad  illud  divinum  animorum 
concilium  coetumque  proficiscar,  quum  que  ex  hac  turba 
et  colluvione  discedam !  Proficiscar  enim  non  ad  eos 
solum  viros,  de  quibus  ante  dixi,  verum  etiam  ad  Catonem 
meum,  quo  nemo  vir  melior  natus  est,  nemo  pietate 
praestantior;  cujus  a  me  corpus  est  crematum  —  quod 
contra  decuit  ab  illo  meum  —  animus  vero  non  me  dese- 
rens,  sed  respectans,  in  ea  profecto  loca  discessit,  quo 
mihi  ipsi  cernebat  esse  veniendum.     23. 

O  glorious  day  when  I  shall  enter  that  divine  company  and 
home  of  souls,  when  I  shall  leave  this  turmoil  and  conflux  of 
impurities!  for  I  shall  go  not  only  to  these  men  of  whom  I  have 
just  spoken,  but  also  to  my  Cato,  than  whom  no  better  man  was 
ever  born,  no  man  more  eminent  in  all  good  works,  for  whom  I 
performed  the  last  sad  rites,  when  it  seemed  more  fitting  that  he 
should  mourn  for  me:  whose  soul  not  forgetting  me,  but  often 
looking  back  upon  me,  departed  to  that  place  whither  it  perceived 
that  I,  too,  soon  must  come. 

EPISTOLAE  AD  BRUTUM 

Nee  vero  me  fugit,  quam  sit  acerbum,  parentum  scelera  Epistolae 
filiorum  poenis  lui.    I,  12.  Ad  Bmtum 

It  does  not  escape  me  that  it  is  a  cruel  thing  that  the  children 
should  suffer  for  their  parents'  misdeeds. 

"Rempublicam  duabus  rebus  contineri  dixit,  praemio  et 
poena."    [Solon,  quoted  by  Cicero]  I,  15. 

A  state  is  regulated  by  two  things,  reward  and  punishment. 


550  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Epistolae        Quid  enim  est  melius  quam  memoria  recte  factorum  et 
AdBrutum.     libertate  contentum  negligere  humana?    I,  1 6. 

What  is  better  than  to  live  in  the  contentment  arising  out  of 

freedom  and  the  recollection  of  duty  well  performed,  careless  of 

the  things  of  this  earth  ? 

FRAGMENTA 

Fragmenta.     In  primoribus  habent,  ut  aiunt,  labris. 

They  have  it  on  the  tip  of  the  tongue,  as  the  saying  goes. 

O   fortunatam   natam   me   consule   Romam !      [De   Suis 
Temporibus.     Quoted  by  Juvenal]  x,  122. 
How  fortunate  a  natal  day  was  thine, 
In  that  late  consulate,  O  Rome,  of  mine! —  (Gifford.) 


IN  CATILINAM 

in  Quousque    tandem     abutere,     Catilina,     patientia     nos- 

Catilinam.      tra  ?    Quam  diu  etiam  furor  iste  tuus  nos  eludet?    Quam 

ad  finem  sese  effrenata  iactabit  audacia?    I,  1. 

When,  O  Catiline,  do  you  mean  to  cease  abusing  our  patience? 

How  long  is  that  madness  of  yours  still  to  mock  us?     When  is 

there  to  be  an  end  of  that  unbridled  audacity  of  yours,  swaggering 

about  as  it  does  now? 

O  temporal  O  mores!    I,  1. 
What  times!  what  morals! 

O  temporal  O  mores!  Senatus  haec  intelligit,  consul 
videt:  hie  tamen  vivit.  Vivit?  immo,  vero  etiam  in  sena- 
tum  venit.     I,  1. 

Oh!  the  degeneracy  of  the  times  and  their  manners!  The 
Senate  is  aware  of  these  things,  the  consul  sees  them,  yet  this  man 
lives  —  lives,  do  I  say  ?  —  nay,  he  comes  even  into  the  very  Senate. 

Multorum  te  etiam  oculi  et  aures  non  sentientem,  sicut 
adhuc  fecerunt,  speculabuntur  atque  custodient.     I,  2. 

The  eyes  and  ears,  too,  of  many  will  see  and  watch  you  without 
your  being  aware,  as  they  have  done  already. 

O  dii  immortales!  ubinam  gentium  sumus?    I,  4. 
Ye  immortal  gods,  where  in  the  world  are  we? 


IN  CATILINAM  551 

Patria  est  communis  parens  omnium  nostrum.     I,  7.  in 

Our  country  is  the  common  parent  of  all.  Cahhnam. 

Abiit,  excessit,  evasit,  erupit.     II,  1. 

He  is  gone,  he  has  fled,  he  has  eluded  our  vigilance,  he  has 
broken  through  our  guards. 

Intus  est  hostis;  cum   luxuria  nobis,  cum  amentia,   cum 
scelere  certandum  est.     II,  5. 

The  enemy  is  within  the  gates;  it  is  with  our  own  luxury,  our 
own  folly,  our  own  criminality  that  we  have  to  contend. 

Neque  enim  turpis  mors  foxti  viro  potest  accidere,  neque 
immatura  consulari,  neque  misera  sapienti.     IV,  2. 

Death  cannot  be  dishonorable  to  the  brave  man,  or  premature 
to  him  who  has  held  high  office,  or  lamentable  to  the  philosopher. 

Multo  magis  est  verendum,  ne  remissione  poenae  crudeles 
in  patriam,  quam  ne  severitate  animadversionis  nimis 
vehementes  in  acerbissimos  hostes  fuisse  videamur.  IV,  6. 
It  would  be  far  better  to  risk  appearing  vindictive  by  the  sever- 
ity of  the  measures  taken  against  our  implacable  foes,  than  by 
remitting  their  well-deserved  punishment  to  cause  injury  to  the 
state. 

Videor  enim  mihi  videre  hanc  urbem,  lucem  orbis  terra- 
rum  atque  arcem  omnium  gentium,  subito  uno  incendio 
concidentem.  Cerno  animo  sepulta  in  patria  miseros 
atque  insepultos  acervos  civium.  Versatur  mihi  ante 
o,culos  aspectus  Cethegi,  et  furor  in  vestra  caede  bac- 
chantis.  Cum  vero  mihi  proposui  regnantem  Lentulum, 
sicut  ipse  ex  fatis  se  sperasse  confessus  est,  purpuratum 
esse  huic  Gabinium,  cum  exercitu  venisse  Catilinam,  turn 
lamentationem  matrum  familias,  turn  fugam  virginum 
atque  puerorum  ac  vexationem  virginum  Vestalium  per- 
horresco;  et  quia  mihi  vehementer  haec  videntur  misera 
atque  miseranda,  idcirco  in  eos  qui  ea  perficere  voluerunt 
me  severum  vehementemque  praebeo.  Etenim  quaero,  si 
quis  pater  familias,  liberis  suis  a  servo  interfectis,  uxore 
occisa,  incensa  domo,  supplicium  de  servo  non  quam 
acerbissimum  sumpserit,  utrum  is  clemens  ac  misericors, 
an  inhumanissimus  et  crudelissimus  esse  videatur?     Mihi 


552  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

In  vero  importunus  ac  ferreus,  qui  non  dolore  et  cruciatu 

Catihnam.  nocentis  suum  dolorem  cruciatumque  lenierit.  Sic  nos  in 
his  hominibus  —  qui  nos,  qui  coniuges,  qui  liberos  nostros 
trucidare  voluerunt;  qui  singulas  unius  cuiusque  nostrum 
domos  et  hoc  universum  rei  publicae  domicilium  delere 
conati  sunt;  qui  id  egerunt,  ut  gentem  Allobrogum  in 
vestigiis  huius  urbis  atque  in  cinere  deflagrati  imperi  con- 
locarent, —  si  vehementissimi  fuerimus,  misericordes  habe- 
bimur:  sin  remissiores  esse  voluerimus,  summae  nobis 
crudelitatis  in  patriae  civiumque  pernicie  fama  subeunda 
est.     iv,  6. 

For  I  seem  to  myself  to  see  this  city,  the  light  of  the  world,  and 
the  citadel  of  all  nations,  suddenly  falling  by  one  conflagration.  I 
see  in  my  mind's  eye  miserable  and  unburied  heaps  of  citizens  in 
my  buried  country;  the  sight  of  Cethegus  and  his  madness  raging 
amid  your  slaughter  is  ever  present  to  my  mind's  eye.  But  when  I 
have  set  before  myself  Lentulus  reigning,  as  he  himself  confesses 
that  he  had  hoped  was  his  destiny,  and  this  Gabinius  arrayed  in  the 
purple,  and  Catiline  arrived  with  his  army,  then  I  shudder  at  the 
lamentation  of  matrons,  and  the  flight  of  virgins  and  of  boys,  and 
the  insults  to  the  vestal  virgins;  and  because  these  things  appear 
to  me  exceedingly  miserable  and  pitiable,  therefore  I  show  myself 
severe  and  rigorous  to  those  who  have  wished  to  bring  about  this 
state  of  things.  I  ask,  forsooth,  if  any  father  of  a  family,  suppos- 
ing his  children  had  been  slain  by  a  slave,  his  wife  murdered,  his 
house  burnt,  were  not  to  inflict  on  his  slaves  the  severest  possible 
punishment,  would  he  appear  clement  and  merciful,  or  most  in- 
human and  cruel?  To  me  he  would  seem  unnatural  and  hard- 
hearted who  did  not  soothe  his  own  pain  and  anguish  by  the  pain 
and  torture  of  the  criminal.  And  so  we,  in  the  case  of  these  men 
who  desired  to  murder  us,  and  our  wives,  and  our  children ;  who 
endeavored  to  destroy  the  houses  of  every  individual  among  us, 
and  also  the  Republic,  the  home  of  all ;  who  designed  to  place  the 
nation  of  the  Allobroges  on  the  ruins  of  this  city  and  on  the  ashes 
of  the  Empire  destroyed  by  fire  —  if  we  are  very  rigorous,  we  shall 
be  considered  merciful ;  if  we  choose  to  be  lax,  we  must  endure  the 
reputation  of  being  guilty  of  the  greatest  cruelty,  to  the  damage  of 
our  country  and  our  fellow-citizens. 

Nunc,  ante  quam  ad  sententiam  redeo,  de  me  pauca  dicam. 
Ego,  quanta  manus  est  coniuratorum,  quam  videtis  esse 
permagnam,  tantam  me  inimicorum  multitudinem  susce- 
pisse  video:  sed  earn  iudico  esse  turpem  et  infirmam  et 
abiectam.     Quod  si  aliquando  alicuius  furore  et  scelere 


IN  PISONEM  553 

concitata  manus  ista  plus  valuerit  quam  vestra  ac  rei  In 
publicae  dignitas,  me  tamen  meorum  factorum  atque  con-  Cattlinam- 
siliorum  numquam,  patres  conscripti,  poenitebit.  Etenim 
mors,  quam  illi  fortasse  minitantur,  omnibus  est  parata: 
vitae  tantam  laudem,  quanta  vos  me  vestris  decretis  hones- 
tastis,  nemo  est  adsecutus.  Ceteris  enim  semper  bene 
gesta,  mihi  uni  conservata  re  publica,  gratulationem 
decrevistis.     IV,  10. 

Now,  before  I  return  to  the  decision,  I  will  say  a  few  words 
concerning  myself.  As  numerous  as  is  the  band  of  conspirators  — 
and  you  see  that  it  is  very  great  —  so  numerous  a  multitude  of 
enemies  do  I  see  that  I  have  brought  upon  myself.  But  I  con- 
sider them  base  and  powerless  and  despicable  and  abject.  And  if 
at  any  time  that  band  shall  be  excited  by  the  wickedness  and 
madness  of  anyone,  and  shall  show  itself  more  powerful  than 
your  dignity  and  that  of  the  Republic,  yet,  O  Conscript  Fathers, 
I  shall  never  repent  of  my  actions  and  of  my  advice!  Death, 
indeed,  which  they  perhaps  threaten  me  with,  is  prepared  for  all 
men ;  such  glory  during  life  as  you  have  honored  me  with  by  your 
decrees  no  one  has  ever  attained  to.  For  you  have  passed  votes  of 
congratulation  to  others  for  having  governed  the  Republic  suc- 
cessfully, but  to  me  alone  for  having  saved  it. 


IN  PISONEM 

Vultus  totus  sermo  quidam  tacitus  mentis  est.     I.  In Pisonem. 

The  whole  countenance  is  a  certain  silent  language  of  the  mind. 

Abdomini  suo  natus,  non  laudi  atque  gloriae.     17. 

Born  for  the  gratification  of  his  appetite  and  not  for  the  acqui- 
sition of  glory  and  honor. 

Sua  quemque  fraus,  suum  facinus,  suum  scelus,  sua  audacia 
de  sanitate  ac  mente  deturbat:  hae  sunt  impiorum  furiae, 
hae  flammae,  hae  faces.     20. 

It  is  a  man's  own  dishonesty,  his  crimes,  his  wickedness,  and 
barefaced  assurance,  that  take  away  from  him  soundness  of  mind ; 
these  are  the  furies,  these  the  flames  and  firebrands  of  the  wicked. 

Levitatis  est  inanem  aucupari  rumorem.     24. 

It  is  the  sign  of  a  trifling  character  to  grasp  at  fame  that  is  got 
by  silly  reports. 


554 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


inPisonem.  Philosophia,  ut  fertur,  virtutis  continet  et  officii  et  bene 
vivendi  disciplinam.     29. 

Philosophy  comprises  the  understanding  of  virtue,  of  duty,  and 
of  right  living. 

Quae  quidem  laudatio  hominis  turpissimi  mihi  ipsi  erat 
paene  turpis.     29. 

Such  praise,  coming  from  so  degraded  a  source,  was  degrading 
to  me,  its  recipient. 

(Deinde  hoc  ita  fit  ut)  viri  fortes,  etiam  si  ferro  inter  se 
cominus  decertarint,  tamen  illud  contentionis  odium  simul 
cum  ipsa  pugna  armisque  ponant.    32. 

Brave  men,  though  they  have  been  engaged  in  mortal  combat, 
lay  aside  their  hatred  when  they  sheathe  their  swords. 

Habet  hoc  virtus  .  .  .  .  ut  species  ejus  et  pulchritudo, 
etiam  in  hoste  posita,  delectet.     32. 

There  is  this  to  be  said  of  virtue,  that  its  beauty  and  charm 
delight  us,  even  in  an  enemy. 

Si  quidem  potest  vi  et  metu  extortum  honorarium  nomi- 
nari.    35. 

How  can  we  describe  as  an  honorarium  what  is  extorted  by 
force  or  by  fear? 

IN  VATINIUM 

inVatinium.  Quid  quisque  nostrum  de  se  ipse  loquatur,  non  est,  sane, 
non  est  requirendum.  Boni  viri  judicent.  Id  est  maxime 
momenti  et  ponderis.     4. 

What  each  one  of  us  thinks  of  himself  is  really  not  the  question. 
Let  us  take  the  opinion  of  virtuous  men,  which  will  have  weight 
and  importance. 


IN  VERREM 

InVerrem.      Nihil  esse  tarn  sanctum  quod  non  violari,  nihil  tarn  mu- 
nitum  quod  non  expugnari  pecunia  possit.     I,  2. 

There  is  no  sanctuary  so  holy  that  money  cannot  profane  it,  no 
fortress  so  strong  that  money  cannot  take  it  by  storm. 


IN  VERREM  555 

Nulla  est  laus  ibi  esse  integrum,  ubi  nemo  est,  qui  aut  in  Verrem. 
possit  aut  conetur  corrumpere.     I,  16. 

There  is  no  cause  for  glorying  in  being  upright,  where  no  one 
has  the  power  or  is  trying  to  corrupt  you. 

Omnium  est  communis  inimicus,  qui  fuit  hostis  suo- 
rum.  Nemo  unquam  sapiens  proditori  credendum  puta- 
vit.     II,  i,  15. 

He  is  a  common  enemy  who  has  been  a  foe  to  his  own  people. 
No  man  of  sense  has  ever  considered  a  traitor  worthy  of  credence. 

Nemo  unquam  sapiens  proditori  credendum  putavit.     II, 

1,  15- 

No  wise  man  ever  thought  that  a  traitor  ought  to  be  trusted. 

Nullae  sunt  occultio.res  insidiae,  quam  eae  quae  latent  in 
simulatione  officii  aut  in  aliquo  necessitudinis  nomine.     11, 

I,  15. 

A  conspiracy  is  never  more  difficult  of  detection  than  when  it  is 
concealed  under  a  pretense  of  duty,  or  of  some  alleged  necessity. 

Non  modo  proditori,  sed  ne  perfugae  quidem  locus  in  meis 
castris  cuiquam  fuit.     II,  1,  38. 

Not  only  no  traitor,  but  no  deserter  even,  has  ever  found  a  place 
in  my  camp. 

Jus  tarn  nequam  esse  Verrinum.    11,  1,  46. 
So  nefarious  is  Verrine  justice. 

Incertum  est,  quam  longa  nostrum  cujusque  vita  futura  sit. 

II,  1,  58. 

It  is  uncertain  how  long  the  life  of  each  of  us  will  be. 

Qui  sibi  hoc  sumit  ut  corrigat  mores  aliorum  ac  peccata 
reprehendat,  quis  huic  ignoscat,  si  qua  in  re  ipse  ab  re- 
ligione  officii  declinarit?    II,  3,  1. 

When  a  man  takes  upon  himself  to  correct  the  manners  of  his 
neighbor  and  to  reprove  his  faults,  who  will  forgive  him  if  he  has 
deviated  in  the  slightest  degree  from  the  precise  line  of  his  duty? 


556  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

InVerrem.      Omnia,   quae   vindicaris   in   altero,   tibi   ipsi   vehementer 
fugienda  sunt.     II,  3,  2. 

Everything  that  thou  reprovest  in  another  thou  must  above  all 
take  care  that  thou  art  not  thyself  guilty  of. 

O  consuetudo  peccandi !  quantam  habes  jucunditatem  im- 
probis  et  audacibus,  quum  poena  abfuit  et  licentia  con- 
secuta  est!    II,  3,  76. 

Alas,  the  habit  of  evil-doing!  what  pleasure  it  affords  to  the 
depraved  and  the  shameless,  when  punishment  is  in  abeyance  and 
has  been  replaced  by  license. 

Ita  serpit  illud  insitum  natura  malum  consuetudine  pec- 
candi libera,  finem  audaciae  ut  statuere  ipse  non  possit. 

H,3i  76. 

The  evil  implanted  in  man  by  nature  spreads  so  imperceptibly, 
when  the  habit  of  wrong-doing  is  unchecked,  that  he  himself  can 
set  no  limit  to  his  shamelessness. 

Totae  res  rusticae  ejusmodi  sunt,  ut  eas  non  ratio  neque 
labor,  sed  res  incertissimae,  venti  tempestatesque  mode- 
rentur.    II,  3,  98. 

All  the  results  of  agriculture  are  dependent,  not  so  much  on 
reason  and  diligence,  as  on  those  most  uncertain  of  all  things, 
winds  and  weather. 

Cognatio  studiorum  et  artium  propemodum  non  minus 
est  conjuncta  quam  generis  et  nominis.     11,  4,  37. 

A  relationship  in  pursuits  and  habits  is  almost  as  important 
the  relationship  of  name  and  family. 

Res  sacras  non  modo  manibus  attingi,  sed  ne  cogitatiom 
quidem  violari  fas  fuit.     II,  4,  45. 

Things  sacred  should  not  only  not  be  touched  with  the  hands 
but  may  not  be  violated  even  in  thought. 

Civis  Romanus  sum.    11,  v,  57. 
I  am  a  Roman  citizen. 

Sua  confessione  juguletur  necesse  est.    11,  5,  64. 
He  must  be  convicted  by  his  own  confession. 


ORATOR  557 

Tacitae  magis  et  occultae  inimicitiae  timendae  sunt  quam  in  Verrem 
indictae  atque  apertae,  n,  5,  71. 

There  is  more  to  be  feared  from  unspoken  and  concealed,  than 
from  open  and  declared  hostility. 


ORATOR 

Prima  enim  sequentem,   honestum  est  in   secundis,   ter-  Orator. 
tiisque  consistere.     1. 

When  you  are  aspiring  to  the  highest  place,  it  is  honorable  to 
reach  the  second,  or  even  to  linger  in  the  third  rank. 

Sed  ego  sic  statuo,  nihil  esse  in  ullo  genere  tarn  pulchrum, 
quo  non  pulchrius  id  sit,  unde  illud,  ut  ex  ore  aliquo,  quasi 
imago,  exprimatur,  quod  neque  oculis,  neque  auribus, 
neque  ullo  sensu  percipi  potest:  cogitatione  tantum,  et 
mente  complectimur.     2. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  there  is  nothing  of  any  kind  so  beautiful, 
but  there  is  something  still  more  beautiful,  of  which  this  is  the 
mere  image  and  expression  —  as  a  portrait  is  of  a  person's  face  —  a 
something  which  can  neither  be  perceived  by  the  eyes,  the  ears,  nor 
any  of  the  senses;  we  comprehend  it  merely  in  the  thoughts  of 
our  minds. 

Nam  et  grandiloqui,  ut  ita  dicam,  fuerunt  cum  ampla  et 
sententiarum  gravitate,  et  majestate  verborum,  vehem- 
entes,  varii,  copiosi,  graves :  ad  permovendos,  et  conver- 
tendos  animos  instructi,  et  parati:  quod  ipsum  alii  aspera, 
tristi,  horrida  oratione,  neque  perfecta,  neque  conclusa; 
alii  levi,  et  instructa,  et  terminata.    5. 

For  there  have  been  grandiloquent  orators,  so  to  speak,  impres- 
sive and  sonorous  in  their  language,  vehement,  versatile,  and 
copious;  well  trained  and  prepared  to  excite  and  turn  the  minds 
of  their  audience ;  while  the  same  effect  has  been  produced  by 
others,  by  a  rude,  rough,  unpolished  mode  of  address,  without 
finish  or  delicacy;  others,  again,  have  effected  the  same  by  smooth, 
well-turned  periods. 

Et  contra  tenues,  acuti,  omnia  docentes,  et  dilucidiora, 
non  ampliora,  facientes,  subtili  quadam,  et  pressa  oratione 
limati.  In  eodemque  genere  alii  callidi,  sed  impoliti,  et 
consulto  rudium  similes  et  imperitorum :    alii  in  eadem 


558  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Orator.  jejunitate  concinniores,  id  est,  faceti,  florentes  etiam,  et 

leviter  ornati.     6. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  orators  of  subtle  and  acute  minds, 
well  educated,  making  every  subject  which  they  treat  clear,  but 
adding  little  in  reality  to  our  knowledge,  refined  and  correct  in 
their  language.  Among  these  some  are  crafty,  but  unpolished,  and 
purposely  rude  and  apparently  unskilful ;  while  others  exhibit  more 
elegance  in  their  barrenness  and  want  of  spirit  —  that  is  to  say,  they 
are  facetious,  flowery  in  their  language,  and  exhibit  a  shallow  polish. 

Quae  est  autem  in  hominibus  tanta  perversitas,  ut  inventis 
frugibus  glande  vescantur?    9. 

What  perversity  is  this  in  mankind,  that  when  fruits  are  to  be 
found  they  prefer  to  live  on  acorns? 

Mira  est  enim  quaedam  natura  vocis:  cujus  quidem,  e 
tribus  omnino  sonis,  inflexo,  acuto,  gravi,  tanta  sit,  et  tarn 
suavis  varietas  perfecta  in  cantibus.     17. 

Wonderful  indeed  is  the  power  of  the  voice,  which,  though 
consisting  merely  of  three  sounds — the  bass,  treble,  and  tenor  — 
yet  possesses  great  strength  and  a  sweet  variety,  as  is  shown  in 
songs. 

In  omnibus  rebus  vivendum  est,  quatenus,  etsi  enim  suus 
cuique  modus  est,  tamen  magis  offendit  nimium,  quam 
parum.  In  quo  Apelles  pictores  quoque  eo,s  peccare 
dicebat,  qui  non  sentirent,  quid  esset  satis.     22. 

In  everything  we  must  consider  how  far  we  ought  to  go,  for 
though  everything  has  its  proper  medium,  yet  too  much  is  more 
offensive  than  too  little.  Hence  Apelles  used  to  say  that  those 
painters  committed  a  fault  who  did  not  know  what  was  enough. 

Is  enim  est  eloquens,  qui  et  humilia  subtiliter,  et  magna 
graviter,  et  mediocria  temperate  potest  dicere.     29. 

He  is  the  eloquent  man  who  can  treat  subjects  of  a  humble 
nature  with  delicacy,  lofty  things  impressively,  and  moderate 
things  temperately. 

Omnia  profecto  quum  se  a  coelestibus  rebus  referet  ad  hu- 
manas,  excelsius  magnificentiusque  et  dicet  et  sentiet.  34. 
When  a  man  turns  from  the  study  of  divine  philosophy  to  the 
affairs  of  humanity,  all  his  thoughts  and  words  will  be  loftier  and 
nobler. 


PA  RAD  OX  A  559 

Nescire  autem,  quid  antea,  quam  natus  sis,  acciderit,  id   Orator. 
est  semper  esse  puerum.    34. 

Not  to  know  what  happened  before  one  was  born  is  always  to 
be  a  child. 

Omnium  magnarum  artium,  sicut  arborum,  altitudo  nos 
delectat,  radices  stirpesque  non  item;  sed  esse  ilia  sine  his 
non  potest    43. 

The  arts,  in  their  loftier  developments,  resemble  trees,  which 
please  us  by  the  height  to  which  they  have  attained,  while  we  pay 
no  regard  to  their  roots  or  their  trunks ;  and  yet,  without  the  latter, 
the  former  could  not  exist. 

Me  autem,  sive  pervagatissimus  ille  versus,  qui  vetat, 

" Artem  pudere  proloqui,  quam  factites" 
dissimulare  non  sinit,  quin  delecter.    43. 

That  very  common  verse  which  forbids  us  "to  be  ashamed  of 
speaking  of  the  profession  which  we  practice,"  does  not  allow  me 
to  conceal  that  I  take  delight  in  it. 

Nec  ego  id  quod  deest  antiquitati  flagito  potius  quam  laudo 
quod  est;  praesertim  quum  ea  majora  judicem  quae  sunt, 
quam  ilia  quae  desunt.     50. 

I  am  quite  as  ready  to  praise  what  is  found  in  antiquity  as  to 
blame  what  is  missing;  especially  as,  in  my  opinion,  its  qualities 
outweigh  its  defects. 

Notatio  natiorae,  et  animadversio  peperit  artem.    55. 
Art  is  born  of  the  observation  and  investigation  of  nature. 

Necessitatis  inventa  sunt  antiquiora  quam  voluptatis.     55. 
The  inventions  dictated  by  necessity  are  of  an  earlier  date  than 
those  of  pleasure. 


PARADOXA 

Nihil  est  tarn  incredibile  quod  non  dicendo  fiat  probabile;  Paradoxa. 
nihil  tarn  horridum,  tarn  incultum,  quod  non  splendescat 
oratione  et  tanquam  excolatur.    Prooemium. 

There  is  nothing  too  incredible  to  be  rendered  probable  by  a 
skilful  speaker;  there  is  nothing  so  uncouth,  nothing  so  unpolished, 
that  eloquence  cannot  ennoble  and  refine  it. 


560  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Paradoxa.  Nunquam  mehercule  ego  neque  pecunias  istorum,  neque 
tecta  magnifica,  neque  opes,  neque  imperia  neque  eas, 
quibus  maxime  adstricti  sunt,  voluptates  in  bonis  rebus  aut 
expetendis  esse  duxi:  quippe  cum  viderem,  rebus  his  cir- 
cumfluentibus  ea  tamen  desiderare  maxime,  quibus  abun- 
darent;  neque  enim  expletur  umquam,  nee  satiatur  cupidi- 
tatis  sitis:  neque  solum,  ea  qui  habent,  libidine  augendi 
cruciantur  sed  etiam  amittendi  metu.    I,  I. 

I  have  never,  by  Hercules,  considered  heaps  of  money,  magnifi- 
cent palaces,  influence  in  the  state,  military  commands,  nor  any  of 
those  pleasures  of  which  men  are  particularly  fond,  as  things  either 
good  in  themselves  or  to  be  desired ;  inasmuch  as  I  saw  that  those 
who  abounded  in  them  still  desired  them  the  most.  The  thirst  of 
desire  is  never  filled  nor  fully  satisfied;  those  who  possess  such 
things  are  tormented  not  only  with  the  wish  to  increase  them,  but 
also  with  the  fear  of  losing  them. 

Plus  apud  me  tamen  vera  ratio  valebit  quam  vulgi  opinio. 
I,  i. 

Sound  argument  will  have  more  weight  with  me  than  popular 
opinion. 

Omnia  mea  porto  mecum.    [A  saying  of  Bias]  I,  I. 
I  carry  all  my  worldly  goods  with  me. 

Nihil  est  aliud  bene  et  beate  vivere,  nisi  honeste  et  recte 
vivere.     I,  3. 

To  live  well  and  happily  is  nothing  else  than  to  live  honestly 
and  uprightly. 

Mors  terribilis  est  iis,  quorum  cum  vita  omnia  extinguun- 
tur;  non  iis,  quorum  laus  emori  non  potest:  exsilium 
autem  illis,  quibus  quasi  circumscriptus  est  habitandi  locus; 
non  iis,  qui  omnem  orbem  terrarum,  unam  urbem  esse 
ducunt.  Te  miseriae,  te  aerumnae  premunt,  qui  te  beatum, 
qui  florentem  putas;  tuae  libidines  te  torquent:tu  dies, 
noctesque  cruciaris;  cui  nee  sat  est,  quod  est,  et  idipsum, 
ne  non  sit  diuturnum,  times:  te  conscientiae  stimulant 
maleficiorum  tuorum:  te  metus  exanimant  judiciorum, 
atque  legum :  quocumque  adspexisti,  ut  furiae,  sic  tuae 
tibi  occurrunt  injuriae,  quae  te  respirare  non  sinunt.  II,  1. 
Death  is  terrible  to  those  with  whose  life  all  things  come  to  an 
end,  not  to  those  whose  fame  cannot  die ;  but  banishment  is  terrible 
to  those  who  possess,  as  it  were,  a  confined  and  circumscribed 


PARADOX  A  561 

abode ;  not  to  those  who  consider  the  whole  habitable  globe  as  one  Paradoxa. 
city.  Miseries  and  calamities  press  upon  thee  who  thinkest  thyself 
rich  and  increased  with  goods.  Thy  lusts  torture  thee;  thou  art 
tormented  night  and  day;  who  never  considerest  enough  what 
thou  hast,  and  even  fearest,  lest  that  which  thou  hast  should  not 
continue  with  thee.  The  consciousness  of  thy  evil  deeds  goads  thee 
to  madness;  the  fear  of  judgment  and  of  the  law  racks  thy  mind; 
wherever  thou  turnest  thy  eyes,  thy  unjust  deeds,  like  furies,  meet 
thee,  and  do  not  suffer  thee  to  breathe. 

Una  virtus  est,  consentiens  cum  ratione  et  perpetua  con- 
stantia.  Nihil  huic  addi  potest,  quo  magis  virtus  sit:  nihil 
demi,  ut  vertutis  nomen  relinquatur.    Ill,  1. 

There  is  but  one  virtue,  which  is  in  consonance  with  reason  and 
inflexible  rectitude.  Nothing  can  be  added  to  this  which  will  in- 
crease its  claim  to  the  title  of  virtue :  nothing  can  be  subtracted  if 
that  title  is  to  remain. 

Quis  igitur  vivit,  ut  vult,  nisi  qui  recta  sequitur,  qui  gaudet 
officio,  cui  vivendi  via  considerata,  atque  provisa  est?  qui 
legibus  quidem  non  propter  metum  paret,  sed  eas  sequitur, 
atque  colit,  quia  id  salutare  maxime  esse  judicat:  qui  nihil 
dicit,  nihil  facit,  nihil  cogitat  denique,  nisi  libenter,  ac 
libere :  cujus  omnia  consilia,  resque  omnes,  quas  gerit,  ab 
ipso  proficiscuntur,  eodemque  feruntur:  nee  est  ulla  res, 
quae  plus  apud  eum  polleat,  quam  ipsius  voluntas,  atque 
judicium:  cui  quidem  etiam  (quae  vim  habere  maximam 
dicitur)  Fortuna  ipsa  cedit:  sicut  sapiens  poeta  dixit: 
"Suis  ea  cuique  fingitur  moribus."    V,  1. 

Who  therefore  lives  as  he  wishes,  but  the  man  who  leads  an 
upright  life,  who  rejoices  in  the  performance  of  his  duty,  who  has 
considered  well  and  thoughtfully  the  path  of  life  he  ought  to 
pursue?  who  does  not  submit  to  the  laws  from  fear,  but  pays 
respect  and  obedience  to  them  because  he  considers  that  this  is  the 
most  proper  course;  who  says,  does,  and  thinks  nothing,  in  short, 
but  of  his  own  will,  and  freely;  all  whose  plans  and  all  whose  acts 
are  derived  from  and  return  to  himself ;  nor  is  there  anything 
which  has  more  authority  with  him  than  his  own  wishes  and  judg- 
ment. Even  Fortune  herself,  which  is  said  to  have  the  greatest 
power,  gives  way  to  him:  as  the  wise  poet  has  said — "A  man's 
fortune  has  its  form  given  to  it  by  his  habits." 

Animus  hominis  dives,  non  area  appellari  solet.  Quamvis 
ilia  sit  plena,  dum  te  inanem  videbo,  divitem  non  putabo. 
VI,  1. 


562  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Paradoxa.  It  is  a  man's  mind  and  not  his  money  chest  which  is  called  rich. 

Though  your  coffers  be  full,  while  I  see  you  empty,  I  shall  never 
consider  you  wealthy. 

O  dii  immortales !  non  intelligunt  homines,  quam  magnum 
vectigal  sit  parsimonia.    VI,  3. 

Ye  immortal  gods!  men  know  not  how  great  a  revenue  econ- 
omy is. 

Contentum  vero  suis  rebus  esse,  maximae  sunt  certissi- 
maeque  divitiae.     VI,  3. 

To  be  content  with  what  one  has  is  the  greatest  and  truest 
riches. 

Etenim  si  isti  callidi  rerum  aestimatores,  prata,  et  areas 
quasdam  magno  aestimant,  quod  ei  generi  possessionum 
minime  quasi  noceri  potest:  quanti  est  aestimanda  virtus, 
quae  nee  eripi,  nee  surripi  potest  unquam :  neque  nau- 
fragio,  neque  incendio  amittitur:  nee  tempestatum,  nee 
temporum  permutatione  mutatur?  qua  praediti  qui  sunt, 
soli  sunt  divites.    VI,  3. 

For,  if  those  cunning  valuers  of  things  prize  highly  meadows 
and  certain  pieces  of  ground,  because  such  kind  of  possessions  can 
be  but  little  injured,  at  what  a  rate  ought  virtue  to  be  esteemed, 
which  can  neither  be  taken  away  nor  stolen ;  nor  can  we  lose  it  by 
shipwreck  or  fire ;  nor  is  it  to  be  changed  by  the  power  of  tempests, 
or  time?  those  who  possess  it  are  alone  rich. 


PHILIPPICAE 

Philippicae.     Fit  enim  plerumque,  ut  ii,  qui  boni  quid  volunt  afferre, 
affingant  aliquid,  quo  faciant  id,  quod  nuntiant,  laetius. 

»i  3- 

For  it  generally  happens  that  those  who  wish  to  tell  us  good 
news  make  some  fictitious  addition,  that  the  news  which  they  bring 
us  may  give  us  more  joy. 

Est  autem  gloria  laus  recte  factorum  magnorumque  in 
rempublicam  fama  meritorum,  quae  quum  optimi  cujusque, 
turn  etiam  multitudinis  testimonio  comprobatur.    I,  12. 

True  glory  lies  in  noble  deeds,  and  in  the  recognition,  alike  by 
leading  men  and  by  the  nation  at  large,  of  valuable  services  ren- 
dered to  the  State, 


i 


PHILIPP1CAE  563 

Beatus  est  nemo  qui  ea  lege  vivit,  ut  non  modo  impune,  Philippicae. 
sed  etiam  cum  summa  interfectoris  gloria  interfici  potest. 

I,  14. 

No  one  is  happy  who  lives  such  a  life  that  his  murder  would  be 
no  crime,  but  would  rather  redound  to  the  credit  of  his  murderer. 

Mihi  fere  satis  est,  quod  vixi,  vel  ad  aetatem  vel  ad 
gloriam :  hue  si  quid  accesserit,  non  tarn  mihi  quam  vobis 
reique  publicae  accesserit.     I,  15. 

I  have  lived  as  long  as  I  desire,  in  respect  both  of  my  years  and 
of  my  honors;  if  my  life  be  prolonged,  it  will  be  prolonged  less  for 
myself  than  for  you  and  the  state. 

Quid  est  aliud,  tollere  e  vita  vitae  societatem,  quam  tollere 
amicorum  colloquia  absentium?    II,  4. 

To  take  the  companionship  of  life  from  life,  what  else  is  it  than 
to  take  away  the  means  of  absent  friends  conversing  together? 

Cedant  arma  togae.    II,  8. 

Let  the  soldiers  yield  to  the  civilian. 

Quid  enim  interest  inter  suasorem  facti  et  probatorem? 

II,  12. 

What  difference  is  there  between  him  who  instigates  and  him 
who  approves  the  crime? 

Cui  bono  fuerit?    II,  14. 
Whom  did  it  benefit? 

Mihi  enim  omnis  pax  cum  civibus,  bello  civili  utilior  vide- 
batur.     II,  15. 

I  consider  that  peace  at  any  price  with  our  fellow-citizens  is 
preferable  to  civil  war. 

Homines,  quamvis  in  turbidis  rebus  sint,  tamen,  si  modo 
homines  sunt,  interdum  animis  relaxantur.     II,  16. 

In  whatever  trouble  men  may  be,  yet  so  long  as  they  are  men, 
they  must  occasionally  have  their  moments  of  cheerfulness. 

Male  parta,  male  dilabuntur.    11,  27. 

What  is  dishonestly  got  vanishes  in  profligacy. 


I 


564  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Philippkae.     Tarn  bonus  gladiator  rudem  tarn  cito  accepit?    11,  29. 

Has  so  great  a  swordsman  so  early  accepted  the  wooden  foil? 

Non  est  ab  homine  nunquam  sobrio  postulanda  prudentia. 
II,  32. 

Prudence  is  not  to  be  expected  from  a  man  that  is  never  sober. 

Timor  non  est  diuturnus  magister  officii.     II,  36. 
Fear  is  never  a  lasting  teacher  of  duty. 

In  publicis  nihil  est  lege  gravius:  in  privatis  firmissimum 
est  testamentum.     11,  42. 

In  public  affairs  there  is  nothing  weightier  than  law;  in  private 
matters  nothing  more  binding  than  a  will. 

Et  nomen  pacis  dulce  est  et  ipsa  res  salutaris,  sed  inter 
pacem  et  servitutem  plurimum  interest.  Pax  est  tran- 
quilla  libertas,  servitus  postremum  malorum  omnium,  non 
modo  bello,  sed  morte  etiam  repellendum.     II,  44. 

The  name  of  peace  is  sweet,  and  the  thing  itself  is  salutary,  but 
between  peace  and  slavery  there  is  a  wide  difference.  Peace  is 
undisturbed  liberty,  slavery  is  the  worst  of  all  evils,  to  be  resisted 
at  the  cost  of  war,  nay  even  of  death. 

Satis  in  ipsa  conscientia  pulcherrimi  facti  fructus  est. 
II,  44. 

There  is  a  sufficient  recompense  in  the  very  consciousness  of  a 
noble  deed. 

Fuit  in  illo  ingenium,  ratio,  memoria,  litterae,  cura,  cogita- 
tio,  diligentia:  res  bello  gesserat,  quamvis  reipublicae, 
calamitosas,  attamen  magnas;  multos  annos  regnare  med- 
itatus,  magno  labore,  magnis  periculis  quod  cogitarat 
effecerat:  muneribus,  monumentis,  congiariis,  epulis  mul- 
titudinem  imperitam,  delenierat:  suos  praemiis,  adver- 
saries clementiae  specie  devinxerat.  Quid  multa?  attu- 
lerat  jam  liberae  civitati  partim  metu,  partim  patientia 
consuetudinem  serviendi.     [Of  Julius  Caesar]  11,  45. 

He  had  great  natural  capacity,  judgment,  memory,  and  culture; 
was  painstaking,  thoughtful,  and  earnest;  his  military  exploits, 
though  disastrous  to  his  country,  were  of  the  first  magnitude;  he 


PHILIPPICAE  565 

aimed  for  many  years  at  the  supreme  power,  and  eventually,  after  Philippkae. 
great  hardships  and  no  little  peril,  reached  the  summit  of  his  ambi- 
tion ;  he  had  won  the  affections  of  the  ignorant  populace  by  means 
of  entertainments,  banquets,  largesses,  and  other  public  benefac- 
tions, while  he  had  bound  his  immediate  followers  to  him  by  his 
liberality,  his  opponents  by  an  appearance  of  clemency.  In  a  word, 
he  had  so  revolutionized  public  feeling,  that  partly  from  fear, 
and  partly  from  acquiescence,  a  state  which  prided  itself  upon  its 
freedom  had  become  accustomed  to  subjection. 

Defendi  republicum  adolescens;  non  deseram  senex;  con- 
tempsi  Catilinae  gladio.s;  non  pertimescam  tuos.  Quin 
etiam  corpus  libenter  obtulerim,  si  repraesentari  morte 
mea  libertas  civitatis  potest;  ut  aliquando  dolor  populi 
Romani  pariat  quod  jamdiu  parturit.  Etenim  si,  abhinc 
prope  annos  viginti,  hoc  ipso  in  templo,  negavi  posse  mor- 
tem immaturam  esse  consulari,  quanto  verius  nunc  negabo 
seni!  Mihi  vero,  jam  etiam  optanda  mors  est,  perfuncto 
rebus  iis  quas  adeptus  sum  quasque  gessi.  Duo  modo 
haec  opto ;  unum,  ut  moriens  populum  Romanum  liberum 
relinquam ;  hoc  mihi  maius  a  dis  immotalibus  dari  nihil 
potest:  alterum  ut  ita  cuique  eveniat  ut  de  republica 
quisque  mereatur.    II,  46. 

As  a  youth  I  defended  the  state;  aged,  I  will  not  fail  her.  I 
spurned  the  sword  of  Catiline;  I  will  not  tremble  at  thine.  Nay, 
I  would  gladly  give  my  body  to  death,  if  that  could  assure  the 
liberty  of  our  country  and  help  the  pains  of  the  Roman  people 
to  bring  to  birth  the  fruit  of  its  long  travail.  Why,  nearly  twenty 
years  ago  in  this  very  temple  I  declared  that  death  could  not  come 
too  soon  for  a  man  who  had  enjoyed  a  consulship.  With  how 
much  more  truth  shall  I  declare  it  in  my  age !  To  me  death  is  to 
be  desired ;  I  have  finished  with  those  rewards  which  I  gained 
and  those  honors  which  I  have  achieved.  Only  these  two  prayers 
I  make:  one,  that  at  my  death  I  may  leave  the  Roman  people 
free  (than  this  nothing  greater  could  be  granted  by  the  immortal 
gods),  and,  secondly,  that  every  man  may  so  be  requited  as  he  may 
deserve  at  the  hands  of  the  Republic. 

Breve  tempus  longum  est  imparatis.    in,  I. 

A  short  time  is  long  enough  for  those  that  are  unprepared. 

O  praeclarum  custodem  ovium,  ut  aiunt,  lupum !    111,  11. 
What  a  splendid  shepherd  is  the  wolf!  as  the  saying  goes. 


566  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Philippicae.  Nihil  est  detestabilius  dedecore,  nihil  foedius  servitute; 
ad  decus  et  libertatem  nati  sumus;  aut  haec  teneamus  aut 
cum  dignitate  moriamur.    in,  14. 

There  is  nothing  more  painful  than  dishonor,  nothing  more  vile 
than  slavery.  We  have  been  born  for  the  enjoyment  of  honor 
and  liberty ;  let  us  either  retain  these  or  die  with  dignity. 

Jucundiorem  autem  faciet  libertatem  servitutis  recordatio. 
Ill,  14. 

Liberty  is  rendered  even  more  precious  by  the  recollection  of 
servitude. 

Quanquam  omnia  alia  incerta  sunt,  caduca,  mobilia:  virtus 
est  una  altissimis  defixa  radicibus,  quae  nunquam  ulla  vi 
labefactari  potest,  nunquam  demoveri  loco,    iv,  5. 

While  all  other  things  are  uncertain,  evanescent,  and  ephemeral, 
virtue  alone  is  fixed  with  deep  roots ;  it  can  neither  be  overthrown 
by  any  violence  or  moved  from  its  place. 

Nervos  belli,  pecuniam.    v,  2. 
Money,  the  sinews  of  war. 

Minimis  momentis  maximae  inclinationes  temporum  fiunt. 
V,  10. 

The  most  important  events  are  often  determined  by  very  trivial 
influences. 

Omne  malum  nascens  facile  opprimitur:  inveteratum  fit 
plerumque  robustius.     V,  11. 

Every  evil  at  its  birth  is  easily  suppressed ;  but,  if  it  be  of  long 
standing,  it  will  offer  a  stouter  resistance. 

Plerisque  in  rebus  gerendis  tarditas  et  procrastinatio 
odiosa  est.     vi,  3. 

In  the  management  of  most  things  slowness  and  procrastination 
are  hateful. 

Aliae  nationes  servitutem  pati  possunt;  populi  Romani 
res  est  propria  libertas.     vi,  7. 

Other  nations  may  be  able  to  endure  slavery;  but  liberty  is  the 
very  birthright  of  the  Roman  people. 


PH1LIPP1CAE  567 

Si  pace  frui  volumus,  bellum  gerendum  est;  si  bellum  omit-  philippkae. 
timus,  pace  nunquam  fruemur.     vil,  6. 

If  we  desire  to  enjoy  peace,  we  must  first  wage  war;  if  we 
shrink  from  war,  we  shall  never  enjoy  peace. 

Cavete,  per  deos  immortales!  patres  conscripti,  ne  spe 
praesentis  pacis  perpetuam  pacem  amittatis.    vil,  8. 

For  heaven's  sake  beware,  lest  in  the  hope  of  maintaining  peace 
now,  we  lose  the  chance  of  a  lasting  peace  hereafter. 

Summi  gubernatores  in  magnis  tempestatibus  a  vectoribus 
admoneri  solent.    VII,  9. 

Even  the  ablest  pilots  are  willing  to  receive  advice  from  passen- 
gers in  tempestuous  weather. 

Scelerum  promissio  et  iis,  qui  expectant,  perniciosa  est  et 
iis,  qui  promittunt.    vni,  3. 

The  promise  of  what  is  unjust  brings  evil  both  on  those  who 
are  expecting  it,  and  on  those  who  make  the  promise. 

In  corpore  si  quid  ejusmodi  est,  quod  reliquo  corpori 
noceat,  id  uri  secarique  patimur,  ut  membrum  aliquod 
potius  quam  totum  corpus  intereat:  sic  in  reipublicae  cor- 
pore, ut  totum  salvum  sit,  quidquid  est  pestiferum  ampu- 
tetur.    VIII,  5. 

If  in  the  body  there  is  anything  of  such  a  nature  as  to  be  injuri- 
ous to  the  rest  of  the  body,  we  permit  it  to  be  burnt  out,  or  cut 
away,  preferring  to  lose  one  of  the  members,  rather  than  the  whole 
body;  so  in  the  body  politic,  that  the  whole  may  be  preserved,  it  is 
necessary  to  amputate  whatever  is  noxious. 

Turpis  autem  fuga  mortis  omni  est  morte  pejor.    VIII,  10. 
Dishonorable  flight  from  death  is  worse  than  any  death. 

Vita  enim  mortuorum  in  memoria  est  posita  vivorum. 
IX,  5. 

The  dead  live  in  the  memory  of  the  living. 

Est  enim  sapientis,  quidquid  homini  accidere  possit,  id 
praemeditari  ferendum  modice  esse,  si  advenerit:  majoris 
omnino  est  consilii,  providere,  ne  quid  tale  accidat,  sed 
animi  non  minoris,  fortiter  ferre,  si  evenerit.    XI,  3. 


568  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Phtlippicae.  The  wise  should  recollect  that  every  event  of  life  must  be  borne 

with  patience,  but  it  shows  a  still  higher  character  to  anticipate  and 
prevent  coming  evils,  though  it  is  not  less  noble  to  bear  them  with 
fortitude  when  they  have  overtaken  us. 

Nam,  quo  major  vis  est  animi,  quam  corporis,  hoc  sunt 
graviora  ea,  quae  concipiuntur  animo  quam  ilia,  quae  cor- 
pore.     XI,  4. 

For  even  as  the  strength  of  the  mind  surpasses  that  of  the  body, 
so  also  the  sufferings  of  the  mind  are  more  severe  than  the  pains 
of  the  body. 

Duas  tamen  res,  magnas  praesertim,  non  modo  agere  uno 
tempore,  sed  ne  cogitando.  quidem  explicare  quisquam 
potest.    XI,  9. 

It  is  impossible,  either  in  action  or  in  thought,  to  attend  to  two 
things  at  once,  especially  if  they  are  of  any  importance. 

Est  enim  lex  nihil  aliud  nisi  recta  et  a  numine  deorum 
tracta    ratio,    imperans    honesta,    prohibens    contraria. 

XI,  12. 

What  is  law  but  a  divinely  inspired  ethical  system,  inculcating 
morality,  and  forbidding  all  that  is  opposed  thereto? 

Nihil  enim  semper  floret;  aetas  succedit  aetati.    XI,  15. 
Nothing  maintains  its  bloom  forever ;  age  succeeds  to  age. 

Cujusvis  hominis  est  errare:  nullius,  nisi  insipientis,  in 
errore  perseverare.     xn,  2. 

Every  man  may  err,  but  no  man  who  is  not  a  fool  may  persist 
in  error. 

Posteriores  cogitationes,  ut  aiunt,  sapientiores  solent  esse. 

XII,  2. 
Second  thoughts,  they  say,  are  generally  best. 

Optimus  est  portus  poenitenti  mutatio  consilii.    XII,  2. 
The  safest  haven  for  the  penitent  is  altered  conduct. 

Qui  multorum  custodem  se  profiteatur,  eum  sapientes  sui 
primum  capitis  aiunt  custodem  esse  oportere.    XII,  10. 

The  wise  say  that  he  to  whose  care  the  safety  of  many  is  en- 
trusted must  first  show  that  he  can  take  care  of  himself. 


POST  REDITU M  IN  SENJTU  569 

Neque  enim  quod  quisque  potest,  id  ei  licet,  nee  si  non  Philippicae. 
obstatur,  propterea  etiam  permittitur.    xm,  6. 

It  is  not  the  case  that  whatever  is  possible  to  a  man  is  also 
lawful,  nor  is  a  thing  permitted  simply  because  it  is  not  forbidden. 

O  miser,  quum  re,  turn  hoc  ipso,  quod  non  sentis  quam 
miser  sis.     xm,  17. 

O  miserable  man,  both  in  fact,  and  in  this  also,  that  you  know 
not  how  miserable  you  are ! 

Postremum    omnium    maximam    turpitudinem    suscipere 
vitae  cupiditate.     xm,  21. 

The  worst  of  all  is  to  incur  the  greatest  disgrace  as  a  result  of  a 
desire  of  life. 

O   fortunata  mors,  quae  naturae  debita  pro  patria  est 
potissimum  reddita  !    xiv,  12. 

Happy  the  death  of  him  who  pays  the  debt  of  nature  for  his 
country's  sake. 

In  fuga  foeda  mors  est;  in  victoria  gloriosa.     XIV,  12. 
In  flight  death  is  disgraceful;  in  victory,  glorious. 

Brevis  a  natura  nobis  vita  data  est;  at  memoria  bene  red- 
ditae  vitae  sempiterna.     xiv,  12. 

Short  is  the  life  which  nature  has  given  us:  but  the  memory  of 
a  life  nobly  laid  down  is  eternal. 


POST  REDITUM  IN  SENATU 

Etenim  ulciscendae  injuriae  facilior  ratio  est,  quam  bene-  p0StReditum 
ficii  remunerandi,  propterea  quod  superiorem  esse  contra  inSenatu. 
improbos,  minus  est  negotii,  quam  bonis  exaequari.     I,  9. 
We  can  more  easily  avenge  an  injury  than  requite  a  kindness; 
for  this  reason:    that  there  is  less  difficulty  in  getting  the  better 
of  the  wicked  than  in  making  one's  self  equal  with  the  good. 


Omnium  gentium  facile  princeps.    II,  3. 
Easily  the  leader  among  the  nations. 


570  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


PRO  ARCHIA 

Pro  Archia.  Omnes  artes  quae  ad  humanitatem  pertinent,  habent  quod- 
dam  commune  vinculum,  et  quasi  cognatione  quadam  inter 
se  continentur.     i. 

All  the  arts  which  belong  to  humanity  have  a  common  bond  of 
union,  and,  so  to  say,  relationship. 

An  tu  existimas  aut  suppetere  nobis  posse,  quod  quotidie 
dicamus  in  tanta  varietate  rerum,  nisi  animos  nostros  doc- 
trina  excolamus,  aut  ferre  animos  tantam  posse  conten- 
tionem,  nisi  eos  doctrina  eadem  relaxemus?     6. 

Do  you  imagine  that  I  could  find  materials  for  my  daily  speeches 
on  such  a  variety  of  subjects,  if  I  did  not  improve  my  mind  by 
literary  pursuits;  or  that  I  could  bear  up  against  such  a  strain,  if 
I  did  not  relieve  it  occasionally  by  philosophical  inquiries? 

Nam,  nisi  multorum  praeceptis,  multisque  literis  mihi  ab 
adolescentia  suasissem,  nihil  esse  in  vita  magnopere  ex- 
petendum,  nisi  laudem  atque  honestatem,  in  ea  autem 
persequenda  omnes  cruciatus  corporis,  omnia  pericula 
mortis  atque  exilii,  parvi  esse  ducenda :  nunquam  me  pro 
salute  vestra  in  tot  ac  tantas  dimicationes,  atque  in  hos 
profligatorum  hominum  quotidianos  impetus  objecissem.  6. 
For,  if,  from  my  youth  upwards,  I  had  not  been  thoroughly 
convinced  by  the  precepts  of  many  philosophers,  and  by  my  own 
literary  investigations,  that  there  is  nothing  in  this  life  really 
worthy  of  being  desired  except  glory  and  honor,  and  that,  in  the 
pursuit  of  these,  even  bodily  torture,  death,  and  banishment  are 
of  little  account,  I  should  never,  in  your  defense,  have  thrown 
myself  into  so  many  and  such  severe  struggles,  nor  exposed  myself 
to  the  daily  attacks  of  these  abandoned  citizens. 

Etiam  illud  adjungo,  saepius  ad  laudem  atque  virtutem 
naturam  sine  doctrina,  quam  sine  natura  valuisse  doc- 
trinam.     7. 

I  add  this  also,  that  nature  without  education  has  oftener  raised 
man  to  glory  and  virtue,  than  education  without  natural  abilities. 

Nam  ceterae  neque  temporum  sunt,  neque  aetatum  om- 
nium, neque  locorum:  haec  studia   adolescentiam   agunt 


PRO  ARCH1A  571 

senectutem  oblectant,  secundas  res  ornant,  adversis  per-  Pro  Archia. 
fugium  ac  solatium  praebent,  delectant  domi,  non  impe- 
diunt   foris,   pernoctant   nobiscum,    peregrinantur,    rusti- 
cantur.    7. 

For  the  other  employments  of  life  do  not  suit  all  times,  ages,  or 
places;  whereas  literary  studies  employ  the  thoughts  of  the  young, 
are  the  delight  of  the  aged,  the  ornament  of  prosperity,  the  comfort 
and  refuge  of  adversity,  our  amusement  at  home,  no  impediment 
to  us  abroad,  employ  our  thoughts  on  our  beds,  attend  us  on  our 
journeys,  and  do  not  leave  us  in  the  country. 

Atqui  sic  a  summis  hominibus  eruditissimisque  accepimus, 
ceterarum  rerum  studia,  et  doctrina,  et  praeceptis,  et  arte 
constare;  poetam  natura  ipsa  valere,  et  mentis  viribus 
excitari,  et  quasi  divino  quodam  spiritu  inflari.  Quare 
suo  jure  noster  ille  Ennius  sanctos  appellat  poetas,  quod 
quasi  deorum  aliquo  dono  atque  munere  commendati  nobis 
esse  videantur.  Sit  igitur,  judices,  sanctum  apud  vos, 
humanissimos  homines,  hoc  poetae  nomen,  quod  nulla 
umquam  barbaria  violavit.  Saxa  et  solitudines  voci  re- 
spondent; bestiae  saepe  immanes  cantu  flectuntur  atque 
consistunt:  nos  instituti  rebus  optimis  non  poetarum  voce 
moveamur?    8. 

I  have  always  learned  from  the  noblest  and  wisest  of  men,  that 
a  knowledge  of  other  things  is  acquired  by  learning,  rules,  and 
art,  but  that  a  poet  derives  his  power  from  nature  herself  —  that 
the  qualities  of  his  mind  are  given  to  him,  if  I  may  say  so,  by- 
divine  inspiration.  Wherefore  rightly  does  Ennius  regard  poets 
as  under  the  special  protection  of  heaven,  because  they  seem  to  be 
delivered  over  to  us  as  a  beneficent  gift  by  the  gods.  Let  then, 
judges,  this  name  of  poet,  which  even  the  very  savages  respect,  be 
sacred  in  your  eyes,  men  as  you  are  of  the  most  cultivated  mind. 
Rocks  and  deserts  re-echo  to  their  voice ;  even  the  wildest  animals 
turn  and  listen  to  the  music  of  their  words;  and  shall  we,  who 
have  been  brought  up  to  the  noblest  pursuits,  not  yield  to  the  voice 
of  poets? 

Quam  multos  scriptores  rerum  suarum  magnus  ille  Alex- 
ander secum  habuisse  dicitur?  Atque  is  tamen,  quum  in 
Sigeo  ad  Achillis  tumulum  adstitisset,  "O  fortunate,"  in- 
quit,  "adolescens,  qui  tuae  virtutis  Homerum  praeconem 
inveneris."    Et  vere:  nam,  nisi  Ilias  ilia  exstitisset,  idem 


572  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Pro  Archia.     tumulus,  qui  corpus  ejus  contexerat,  nomen  etiam  obruis- 
set.     10. 

How  many  historians  is  Alexander  the  Great  said  to  have  had 
with  him  to  transmit  his  name  to  posterity?  And  yet,  as  he  stood 
on  the  promontory  of  Sigeum  by  the  tomb  of  Achilles,  he  exclaimed : 
"O  happy  youth,  who  found  a  Homer  to  herald  thy  praise !"  And 
with  reason  did  he  say  so;  for  if  the  Iliad  had  never  existed,  the 
same  tomb  which  covered  his  body  would  also  have  buried  his  name. 

Trahimur  omnes  laudis  studio,  et  optimus  quisque  maxime 
gloria  ducitur.     n. 

We  are  all  excited  by  the  love  of  praise,  and  it  is  the  noblest 
spirits  that  feel  it  most. 

Ipsi  ill!  philosophi  etiam  illis  libellis,  quos  de  contemnenda 
gloria  scribunt,  nomen  suum  inscribunt;  in  eo  ipso  in  quo 
praedicationem  nobilitatemque  despiciunt,  praedicari  de 
se,  ac  nominari  volunt.     1 1. 

Even  those  very  philosophers  who  write  treatises  on  the  despis- 
ing of  fame  put  their  names  on  the  title-page ;  in  the  very  place  in 
which  they  deprecate  self-advertisement  and  notoriety  they  take 
steps  to  have  themselves  advertised  and  gain  notoriety. 

Nullam  enim  virtus  aliam  mercedem  laborum  periculo- 
rumque  desiderat,  praeter  hanc  laudis  et  gloriae,  qua  qui- 
dem  detracta,  judices,  quid  est,  quod  in  hoc  tarn  exiguo 
vitae  curriculo,  et  tarn  brevi,  tantis  nos  in  laboribus  exer- 
ceamus?  Certe,  si  nihil  animus  praesentiret  in  posterum, 
et  si,  quibus  regionibus  vitae  spatium  circumscriptum  est, 
eisdem  omnes  cogitationes  terminaret  suas,  nee  tantis  se 
laboribus  frangeret,  neque  tot  curis  vigiliisque  angeretur, 
neque  toties  de  vita  ipsa  dimicaret.  Nunc  insidet  quaedam 
in  optimo  quoque  virtus,  quae  noctes  et  dies  animum 
gloriae  stimulis  concitat,  atque  admonet,  non  cum  vitae 
tempore  esse  dimittendam  commemorationem  nominis 
nostri,  sed  cum  omni  posteritate  aequandam.     1 1. 

For  virtue  wants  no  other  reward  for  all  the  labors  and  dangers 
she  undergoes,  except  what  she  derives  from  praise  and  glory;  if 
this  be  denied  to  her,  O  judges,  what  reason  is  there  why  we 
should  devote  ourselves  to  such  laborious  pursuits,  when  our  lif 
is  so  brief,  and  its  course  narrowed  to  so  small  a  compass? 


PRO  ARCHIA  573 

suredly,  if  our  minds  were  not  allowed  to  look  forward  to  the   Pro  Archia. 

future,  and  if  all  our  thoughts  were  to  be  terminated  with  our  life, 

there  would  be  no  reason  why  we  should  wear  out  ourselves  with 

labors,  submit  to  all  the  annoyances  of  cares  and  anxiety,  and  fight 

so  often  even  for  our  very  lives.     In  the  noblest  there  resides  a 

certain  virtuous  principle,  which  day  and  night  stimulates  a  man 

to  glorious  deeds,  and  warns  him  that  the  recollection  of  our  names 

is  not  to  be  terminated  by  time,  but  must  be  made  boundless  as 

eternity. 

An  vero  tam  parvi  animi  videamur  esse  omnes,  qui  in 
republica,  atque  in  his  vitae  periculis  laboribusque  ver- 
samur,  ut,  cum  usque  ad  extremum  spatium,  nullum  tran- 
quillum  atque  otiosum  spiritum  duxerimus,  nobiscum  simul 
moritura  omnia  arbitremur?    7. 

Are  we  all  of  us  so  poor  in  spirit  as  to  think  after  toiling  for 
our  country  and  ourselves,  though  we  have  not  had  one  moment  of 
ease  here  upon  earth,  that  when  we  die  all  things  shall  die  with  us? 

Omnia  quae  gerebam,  ut  sapientissimi  homines  putaverunt, 
ad  aliquam  animi  mei  partem  pertinebunt;  nunc  quidem 
certe  cogitatione  quadam  speque  delector.     12. 

Everything  in  which  I  have  been  engaged  in  this  world,  as  the 
wisest  of  men  think,  will  be  regarded  in  after-ages  as  belonging  to 
my  soul;  at  present,  at  all  events,  I  delight  myself  with  such 
thoughts  and  hopes. 

Qua  re  conservate,  iudices,  hominem  pudore  eo,  quern 
amicorum  videtis  comprobari  cum  dignitate  turn  etiam 
vetustate;  ingenio  autem  tanto,  quantum  id  convenit  exis- 
timari,  quod  summorum  hominum  ingeniis  expetitum  esse 
videatis;  causa  vero  eius  modi,  quae  beneficio  legis,  aucto- 
ritate  municipi,  testimonio  Luculli,  tabulis  Metelli  com- 
probetur.  Quae  cum  ita  sint,  petimus  a  vobis,  iudices,  si 
qua  non  modo  humana,  verum  etiam  divina  in  tantis  in- 
geniis commendatio  debet  esse,  ut  eum  qui  vos,  qui  vestros 
imperatores,  qui  populi  Romani  res  gestas  semper  ornavit, 
qui  etiam  his  recentibus  nostris  vestrisque  domesticis  peri- 
culis aeternum  se  testimonium  laudis  daturum  esse  profi- 
tetur,  estque  ex  eo  numero  qui  semper  apud  omnis  sancti 
sunt  habiti  itaque  dicti,  sic  in  vestram  accipiatis  fidem,  ut 


574  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

ProArchia.     humanitate  vestra  levatus  potius  quam  acerbitate  violatus 
esse  videatur.     12. 

Preserve  then,  O  judges,  a  man  of  such  virtue  as  that  of 
Archias,  which  you  see  testified  to,  not  only  by  the  worth  of  his 
friends,  but  by  the  length  of  time  during  which  they  have  been 
such  to  him ;  and  of  such  genius  as  you  ought  to  think  is  his,  when 
you  see  that  it  has  been  sought  by  most  illustrious  men.  And  his 
cause  is  one  which  is  approved  by  the  benevolence  of  the  law,  by 
the  authority  of  his  municipality,  by  the  testimony  of  Lucullus, 
and  by  the  documentary  evidence  of  Metellus.  And  as  this  is 
the  case,  we  do  entreat  you,  O  judges,  if  there  may  be  any  weight 
attached,  I  will  not  say  to  human,  but  even  to  divine  recommenda- 
tion in  such  important  matters,  to  receive  under  your  protection 
that  man  who  has  at  all  times  done  honor  to  your  generals  and  to 
the  exploits  of  the  Roman  people;  who  even  in  these  recent  perils 
of  our  own,  and  in  your  domestic  dangers,  promises  to  give  an 
eternal  testimony  of  praise  in  our  favor,  and  who  forms  one  of 
that  band  of  poets  who  have  at  all  times  and  in  all  nations  been 
considered  and  called  holy,  so  that  he  may  seem  relieved  by  your 
humanity,  rather  than  overwhelmed  by  your  severity. 


PRO  CAECINA 

Pro  Caecina.  Non  dubium  quin  major  adhibita  vis  ei  sit,  cujus  animus  sit 
perterritus,  quam  illi,  cujus  corpus  vulneratum  sit.     15. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  you  can  apply  stronger  pressure  to  a  man 
whose  mind  is  unhinged  by  fear,  than  to  one  who  is  only  suffering 
from  bodily  injuries. 

Quia  voluntas  tacitis  nobis  intelligi  non  potest,  verba 
reperta  sunt,  non  quae  impedirent,  sed  quae  indicarent 
voluntatem.     18. 

Because  our  intentions  cannot  be  made  out  if  we  be  silent,  words 
have  been  invented  not  to  be  a  curb,  but  to  point  them  out. 

Jus  civile  neque  inflecti  gratia  neque  perfringi  potentia, 
neque  adulterari  pecunia  debet.     26. 

The  administration  of  justice  ought  neither  to  be  warped  by 
favor,  nor  broken  through  by  the  power  of  the  noble,  nor  bought 
by  money. 


Hie  est  mucro  defensionis  meae. 
This  is  the  point  of  my  defense. 


29. 


PRO  CAEL10  575 


PRO  CAELIO 

Aliud  est  male  dicere,  aliud  accusare.     Accusatio  crimen  Pro  Caelio. 
desiderat,  rem  ut  definiat,  hominem  ut  notet,  argumento 
probet,   teste   confirmet.      Maledictio   autem  nihil  habet 
propositi  praeter  contumeliam.     3. 

To  slander  is  one  thing,  to  accuse  another.  Accusation  implies 
definition  of  the  charge,  identification  of  the  person,  proof  by  argu- 
ment, confirmation  by  witnesses.  Slander  has  no  other  object  than 
the  injury  of  a  reputation. 

Multi  summi  homines  fuerunt,  quorum,  cum  adolescentiae 
cupiditates  defervissent,  eximiae  virtutes  firmata  jam 
aetate  extiterunt.     18. 

There  have  been  many  most  illustrious  men  who,  when  their 
youthful  passions  had  cooled  down,  displayed  in  mature  age  the 
most  exalted  virtues. 

Vitium  ventris  et  gutturis  non  modo  non  minuit  aetas 
hominibus  sed  etiam  auget.     19. 

The  appetites  of  the  belly  and  the  throat  are  so  far  from  dimin- 
ishing in  men  by  time  that  they  go  on  increasing. 

Hinc  illae  lacrimae !    25. 

Hence  were  those  tears,  and  hence  all  that  compassion. 

O  magna  vis  veritatis,  quae,  contra  hominum  ingenia,  cal- 
liditatem,  sollertiam,  contraque  fictas  omnium  insidias, 
facile  se  per  se  ipsa  defendat!    26. 

Great  is  the  might  of  Truth,  against  whom  shall  be  arrayed  the 
intelligence,  the  cunning,  the  ingenuity  of  man,  the  well-laid  plots 
of  the  whole  world,  yet  she  will  with  ease  defend  herself. 

Insolentia  voluptatum,  quae  cum  inclusae  diutius,  et  prima 
aetate  compressae  et  constrictae  fuerunt,  subito  se  non- 
nunquam  profundunt,  atque  ejiciunt  universae.     31. 

He  was  not  accustomed  to  pleasures ;  which,  when  they  are  pent 
up  for  a  long  while  and  have  been  curbed  and  kept  down  in  the 
early  period  of  youth,  sometimes  burst  forth  suddenly  and  over- 
throw every  obstacle. 


576  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Pro  Caelio.  Studia  in  adolescentia  tanquam  in  herbis  significant  quae 
virtutis  maturitas  et  quantae  fruges  industriae  sint  fu- 
turae.     31. 

The  desires  in  the  young,  as  in  herbs,  point  out  what  will  be 
the  future  virtues  of  the  man,  and  what  great  crops  are  likely  to 
reward  his  industry. 


PRO  C.  RABIRIO 

Pr0  Hoc  plerumque  facimus  ut  consilia  eventis  ponderemus, 

CRabino.      et)  cuj  Dene  quid  processerit,  multum  ilium  providisse,  cui 
secus,  nihil  sensisse  dicamus.     Postumo,  1. 

Men  usually  judge  of  the  prudence  of  a  plan  by  the  result,  and 
are  very  apt  to  say  that  the  successful  man  has  had  much  fore- 
thought, and  the  unsuccessful  has  shown  great  want  of  it. 

Etenim,  Quirites,  exiguum  nobis  vitae  curriculum  natura 
circumscripsit,  immensum  gloriae.     Perduellionis,  10. 

Nature  has  circumscribed  the  field  of  life  within  small  limits, 
but  has  left  the  field  of  glory  unmeasured. 


PRO  CLUENTIO 


Pro  Facile  princeps. 

Cluentio.  Ea§;ly  fifSt> 


Facile  intelligo  non  modo  reticere  homines  parentum 
injurias,  sed  etiam  animo  aequo  ferre  oportere. 

I  am  quite  aware  that  men  ought  not  only  to  be  silent  about  the 
injuries  which  they  suffer  from  their  parents,  but  even  to  bear  them 
with  patience. 

Sapientissimum  esse  dicunt  eum,  cui  quod  opus  sit  ipsi 
veniat  in  mentem :  proxime  accedere  ilium,  qui  alterius 
bene  inventis  obtemperet.  In  stultitia  contra  est.  Minus 
enim  stultus  est  is,  cui  nihil  in  mentem  venit,  quam  ille, 
qui  quod  stulte  alteri  venit  in  mentem  comprobat.    31. 

The  wisest  man,  they  say,  is  he  who  can  himself  devise  what  is 
needful  to  be  done ;  next  comes  he  who  will  follow  the  sage  coun- 
sels of  another.  The  opposite  holds  good  in  folly;  for  he  is  less 
foolish  who  never  has  an  idea  of  his  own  than  he  who  approves 
the  foolish  ideas  of  others. 


PRO  CORNELIO  BALBO  S77 

Ex  quo  intelligi  potuit  id,  quod  saepe  dictum  est;  ut  mare,   Pro 
quod  sua  natura  tranquillum  sit,  ventorum  vi  agitari  atque   Cluentio. 
turbari;  sic  et  populum  Romanum  sua  sponte  esse  pla- 
catum,  hominum  seditiosorum  vocibus,  ut  violentissimis 
tempestatibus,  concitari.    49. 

Hence  that  was  easily  understood,  which  has  been  often  said, 
that  as  the  sea,  which  is  calm  when  left  to  itself,  is  excited  and 
turned  up  by  the  fury  of  the  winds,  so,  too,  the  Roman  people,  of 
itself  placable,  is  easily  roused  by  the  language  of  demagogues  as 
by  the  most  violent  storms. 

Mens  et  animus  et  consilium  et  sententia  civitatis  posita  est 
in  legibus.  Ut  corpora  nostra  •sine  mente,  sic  civitas  sine 
lege,  suis  partibus,  ut  nervis  et  sanguine  et  membris,  uti 
non  potest.    53. 

The  mind  and  the  soul,  the  judgment  and  the  purpose  of  a  state 
are  centered  in  its  laws.  As  a  body  without  mind,  so  a  state  with- 
out law  can  make  no  use  of  its  organs,  whether  sinews,  blood,  or 
limbs. 

PRO  CORNELIO  BALBO 

Est  haec  saeculi  labes  quaedam  et  macula  virtuti  invidere,   Pro  Cor- 
velle  ipsum  florem  dignitatis  infringere.     6.  nehoBalbo. 

It  is  the  stain  and  disgrace  of  this  age  to  envy  virtue,  and  to  be 
anxious  to  crush  the  budding  flower  of  dignity. 

Adsiduus  usus  uni  rei  deditus  et  ingenium  et  artem  saepe 
vincit.     20. 

Constant  devotion  to  one  particular  line  of  business  often  proves 
superior  to  genius  and  art. 

Sit  hoc  discrimen  inter  gratiosos  cives  atque  fortes,  ut  illi 
vivi  fruantur  opibus  suis;  horum  etiam  mortuorum  (si 
quisquam  hujus  imperii  defensor  mori  potest)  vivat  aucto- 
ritas  immortalis.     21. 

Let  us  make  this  distinction  between  the  citizen  who  is  merely 
popular,  and  the  citizen  who  is  a  power  in  the  state:  the  former 
will  enjoy  his  advantages  in  his  lifetime,  the  latter  will  leave 
behind  him  after  death  (if  indeed  any  supporter  of  our  Empire  can 
be  said  to  die)  a  deathless  authority. 


578  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Pro  Cor-         Non  esse  inconstantis  puto,  sententiam  aliquam,  tanquam 
neho  Balbo.     aliquod  navigium,  atque  cursum,  ex  reipublicae  tempestate 
moderari.    27. 

I  deem  it  no  proof  of  inconsistency  to  regulate  our  opinions  as 
we  would  a  ship  and  a  ship's  course  on  a  voyage,  according  to  the 
weather  which  might  be  prevailing  in  the  commonwealth. 


PRO  DOMO  SUA 


Pr0  Vi  et  armis.     24. 

DomoSua.  „      .  c 

r>y  force  of  arms. 


Quid  est  sanctius,  quid  omni  religione  munitius,  quam 
domus  uniuscujusque  civium?  hoc  perfugium  est  ita  sanc- 
tum omnibus,  ut  inde  abripi  neminem  fas  sit.    41. 

What  is  more  sacred,  what  more  closely  fenced  round  with 
every  description  of  religious  reverence  than  the  house  of  every 
individual  citizen  ?  This  is  the  asylum  of  everyone,  so  holy  a  spot 
that  it  is  impious  to  drag  anyone  from  it. 

O  tempora,  o  mores!     53. 
What  times !  what  morals ! 


PRO  FLACCO 

ProFlacco.  Quum  in  theatro  imperiti  homines,  rerum  omnium  rudes 
ignarique,  consederant;  turn  bella  inutilia  suscipiebant, 
turn  seditiosos  homines  reipublicae  praeficiebant,  turn 
optime  meritos  cives  e  civitate  ejiciebant.     7. 

Whenever  the  assembly  has  been  filled  by  untried  men,  without 
experience  or  knowledge  of  affairs,  the  result  has  been  that  useless 
wars  have  been  undertaken,  that  agitators  have  seized  the  reins  of 
power,  and  that  the  worthiest  citizens  have  been  driven  into  exile. 

In  hominem  dicendum  est  igitur,  quum  oratio  argumenta- 
tionem  non  habet.     10. 

We  must  make  a  personal  attack,  when  there  is  no  argumenta- 
tive basis  for  our  speech.  "When  you  have  no  case,  abuse  the 
plaintiff's  attorney." 


PRO  LEGE  MAN1L1A  579 


PRO  LEGE  MANILIA 

Maiores  nostri  saepe  mercatoribus  aut  naviculariis  nostris  Pro  Lege 
iniuriosius  tractatis  bella  gesserunt:  vos,  totmilibus  civium  Manilla. 
Romanorum  uno  nuntio  atque  uno  tempore  necatis,  quo 
tandem  animo  esse  debetis?  Legati  quod  erant  appellati 
superbius,  Corinthum  patres  vestri  totius  Graeciae  lumen 
exstinctum  esse  voluerunt:  vos  eum  regem  inultum  esse 
patiemini,  qui  legatum  populi  Romani  consularem  vinculis 
ac  verberibus  atque  omni  supplicio  excruciatum  necavit? 
Illi  libertatem  imminutam  civium  Romanorum  non  tule- 
runt:  vos  ereptam  vitam  neglegetis?  ius  legationis  verbo 
violatum  illi  persecuti  sunt:  vos  legatum  omni  supplicio 
interfectum  relinquetis?  Videte  ne,  ut  illis  pulcherrimum 
fuit  tantam  vobis  imperi  gloriam  tradere,  sic  vobis  turpis- 
simum  sit,  id  quod  accepistis  tueri  et  conservare  non 
posse.     5. 

Your  ancestors  have  often  waged  war  on  account  of  their  mer- 
chants and  seafaring  men  having  been  injuriously  treated.  What 
ought  to  be  your  feelings  when  so  many  thousand  Roman  citizens 
have  been  put  to  death  by  one  order  and  at  one  time?  Because 
their  ambassadors  had  been  spoken  to  with  insolence,  your  ances- 
tors determined  that  Corinth,  the  light  of  Greece,  should  be  de- 
stroyed. Will  you  allow  that  king  to  remain  unpunished,  who 
has  murdered  a  lieutenant  of  the  Roman  people  of  consular  rank, 
having  tortured  him  with  chains  and  scourging  and  every  sort  of 
punishment?  They  would  not  allow  the  freedom  of  Roman  citi- 
zens to  be  diminished;  will  you  be  indifferent  to  their  lives  being 
taken?  They  avenged  the  privileges  of  our  embassy  when  they 
were  violated  by  a  word;  will  you  abandon  our  ambassador  who 
has  been  put  to  death  with  every  sort  of  cruelty?  Take  care  lest, 
as  it  was  a  most  glorious  thing  for  them,  to  leave  you  such  wide 
renown  and  such  powerful  empire,  it  should  be  a  most  discreditable 
thing  for  you  not  to  be  able  to  defend  and  preserve  that  which  yqu 
have  received. 

Etenim  si  vectigalia  nervos  esse  rei  publicae  semper  duxi- 
mus,  eum  certe  ordinem,  qui  exercet  ilia,  firmamentum 
ceterorum  ordinum  recte  esse  dicemus.  Deinde  ex  ceteris 
ordinibus  homines  gnavi  atque  industrii  partim  ipsi  in 
Asia  negotiantur,  quibus  vos  absentibus  consulere  debetis, 
partim  eorum  in  ea  provincia  pecunias  magnas  conlocatas 
habent.    Est  igitur  humanitatis  vestrae  magnum  numerum 


580  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Pro  Lege  eorum  civium  calamitate  prohibere,  sapientiae  videre  mul- 
Mamlia.  torum  civium  calamitatem  a  re  publica  seiunctam  esse  non 
posse.  Etenim  primum  illud  parvi  refert,  nos  publica  his 
amissis  [vectigalia]  postea  victoria  recuperare.  Neque 
enim  isdem  redimendi  facultas  erit  propter  calamitatem, 
neque  aliis  voluntas  propter  timorem.  Deinde  quod  nos 
eadem  Asia  atque  idem  iste  Mithridates  initio  belli 
Asiatici  docuit,  id  quidem  certe  calamitate  docti  memoria 
retinere  debemus.  Nam  turn,  cum  in  Asia  res  magnas  per- 
multi  amiserant,  scimus  Romae,  solutione  impedita,  fidem 
concidisse.  Non  enim  possunt  una  in  civitate  multi  rem  ac 
fortunas  amittere,  ut  non  plures  secum  in  eandem  trahant 
calamitatem.     7. 

In  truth,  if  we  have  always  considered  the  revenues  as  the 
sinews  of  the  state,  certainly  we  shall  be  right  if  we  call  that  order 
of  men  which  collects  them,  the  prop  and  support  of  all  the  other, 
orders.  In  the  next  place,  clever  and  industrious  men,  of  all  the 
other  orders  of  the  state,  are  some  of  them  actually  trading  them- 
selves in  Asia,  and  you  ought  to  show  a  regard  for  their  interests 
in  their  absence;  and  others  of  them  have  large  sums  invested  in 
that  province.  It  will,  therefore,  become  your  humanity  to  pro- 
tect a  large  number  of  those  citizens  from  misfortune;  it  will  be- 
come your  wisdom  to  perceive  that  the  misfortune  of  many  citizens 
cannot  be  separated  from  the  misfortune  of  the  Republic.  In 
truth,  firstly,  it  is  of  but  little  consequence  for  you  afterwards  to 
recover  for  the  publicans  revenues  which  have  been  once  lost;  for 
the  same  men  have  not  afterwards  the  same  power  of  contracting 
for  them,  and  others  have  not  the  inclination,  through  fear.  In 
the  next  place,  that  which  the  same  Asia,  and  the  same  Mithridates 
taught  us,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Asiatic  war,  that,  at  all  events, 
we,  having  learnt  by  disaster,  ought  to  keep  in  our  recollection. 
For  we  know  then,  when  many  had  lost  large  fortunes  in  Asia, 
all  credit  failed  at  Rome,  from  payments  being  delayed.  For  it 
is  not  possible  for  many  men  to  lose  their  property  and  fortunes 
in  one  city  without  drawing  many  along  with  them  into  the  same 
vortex  of  disaster. 


PRO  LIGARIO 

ProLigario.    Habes  igitur,  Tubero,  quod  est  accusatori  maxime  optan- 
dum,  confitentem  reum.     1. 

You  have,  therefore,  Tubero,  what  a  prosecutor  most  desires,  a 
defendant  who  pleads  guilty. 


PRO  MILONE  581 

Te  enim  dicere  audiebamus,  nos  omnes  adversaries  putare,  Pro  Ligario. 
nisi  qui  nobiscum  essent:  te  omnes  qui  contra  te  non  essent 
tuos.      11. 

We  heard  you  say  that  we  reckon  as  adversaries  all  those  who 
are  not  with  us,  while  you  count  as  friends  all  those  who  are  not 
against  you. 

Homines  enim  ad  deos  nulla  re  propius  accedunt  quam 
salutem  hominibus  dando.     12. 

At  no  time  does  man  approach  more  nearly  to  the  gods  than 
when  engaged  in  the  rescue  of  his  fellow-man. 

PRO  MARCELLO 

Fortuna  rerum  humanarum  domina.     2.  Pro 

Fortune  is  the  ruler  of  human  affairs.  Marcello. 

Animum  vincere,  iracundiam  cohibere,  victoriam  tempe- 
rare,  adversarium  nobilitate,  ingenio,  virtute  praestantem, 
non  modo  extollere  jacentem,  sed  etiam  amplificare  ejus 
pristinam  dignitatem;  haec  qui  faciat,  non  ego  eum  cum 
summis  viris  comparo,  sed  simillimum  deo  judico.    3. 

To  conquer  our  inclinations,  to  curb  our  angry  feelings,  to  be 
moderate  in  the  hour  of  victory,  not  merely  to  raise  a  fallen  adver- 
sary, distinguished  for  noble  birth,  genius,  and  virtue,  but  even  to 
increase  his  previous  dignity;  these  actions  are  of  such  a  nature, 
that  he  who  does  them,  I  would  compare  not  with  the  most  illus- 
trious of  men  but  with  God  himself. 

Victoria  natura  est  insolens  et  superba.    3. 
Victory  is  by  nature  insolent  and  haughty. 

Nihil  est  opera  aut  manu  factum,  quod  aliquando  non  con- 
ficiat  et  consumat  vetustas.     41. 

There  is  nothing  done  by  the  labor  and  hands  of  man  which 
sooner  or  later  lapse  of  time  does  not  bring  to  an  end  and  destroy. 

PRO  MILONE 

Negant  intueri  lucem  esse  fas  ei,  qui  a  se  hominem  occisum  ProMUone. 
esse  fateatur.    3. 

They  say  that  it  is  unlawful  for  one  to  live  who  confesses  that 
he  has  slain  a  man. 


582  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

ProMilone.  Est  igitur  haec  non  scripta  sed  nata  lex;  quam  non  didi- 
cimus,  accepimus,  legimus,  verum  ex  natura  ipsa  arripui- 
mus,  hausimus,  expressimus ;  ad  quam  non  docti,  sed  facti, 
non  instituti  sed  imbuti  sumus.    4. 

This,  therefore,  is  a  law  not  found  in  books,  but  written  on  the 
fleshly  tablets  of  the  heart,  which  we  have  not  learned  from  man, 
received  or  read,  but  which  we  have  caught  up  from  nature  her- 
self, sucked  in  and  imbibed ;  the  knowledge  of  which  we  were  not 
taught,  but  for  which  we  were  made:  we  received  it  not  by 
education,  but  by  intuition. 

Silent  enim  leges  inter  arma.    4. 
Among  drawn  swords  law  is  silent. 

Non  alio  facinore  clari  homines,  alio  obscuri  necantur.    7. 
We  do  not  inflict  the  death  penalty  for  one  crime  on  men  of 
note,  and  for  another  on  men  of  no  position. 

Principum  munus  est  resistere  levitati  multitudinis.     8. 

It  is  the  duty  of  men  of  high  rank  to  oppose  the  fickle  disposition 
of  the  multitude. 

Vi  victa  vis.     1 1. 

Force  overcome  by  force. 

Nihil  est  enim  tarn  molle,  tarn  tenerum,  tarn  aut  fragile 
aut  flexibile,  quam  voluntas  erga  nos,  sensusque  civium : 
qui  non  modo  improbitati  irascuntur  candidatorum,  sed 
etiam  in  recte  factis  saepe  fastidiunt.     16. 

There  is  nothing  so  susceptible,  so  tender,  so  easily  broken  or 
bent,  as  the  good  will  and  friendly  disposition  towards  us  of  our 
fellow-citizens.  Not  only  are  they  alienated  by  any  want  of  up- 
rightness on  the  part  of  those  seeking  their  suffrages,  but  at  times 
even  they  take  exception  to  what  has  been  rightfully  done. 

Quis  ignorat  maximam  illecebram  esse  peccandi  impuni- 
tatis  spem?     16. 

We  all  know  that  the  greatest  incentive  to  crime  is  the  hope  of 
impunity. 

Res  loquitur  ipsa,  judices,  quae  semper  valet  plurimum.    20. 

Judges,  the  case  speaks  for  itself,  than  which  there  is  no  more 

powerful  advocacy. 


PRO  MURENA  583 

Magna  vis  est  conscientiae,  judices,  et  magna  in  utramque  ProMUone. 
partem;  ut  neque  timeant,  qui  nihil  commiserint,  et  poe- 
nam  semper  ante  oculos  versari  putent,  qui  peccarint.  23. 
Great,  O  judges,  is  the  power  of  conscience,  and  in  more  ways 
than  one;  for  it  frees  the  innocent  from  all  fear,  and  keeps  ever 
before  the  eyes  of  the  guilty  the  dread  of  punishment. 

Homines  non  modo  res  praeclarissimas  obliviscuntur,  sed 
etiam  nefarias  suspicantur.    23. 

Men  not  only  forget  the  mighty  deeds  which  have  been  per- 
formed by  their  fellow-citizens,  but  even  suspect  them  of  the  most 
nefarious  designs. 

Liberae  sunt  enim  nostrae  cogitationes.     29. 
Our  thoughts  are  free. 

Exsilium  ibi  esse  putat,  ubi  virtuti  non  sit  locus:  mortem 
naturae  finem  esse,  non  poenam.    37. 

Exile,  he  thinks,  is  banishment  to  a  place  where  virtue  is  not: 
death  is  not  punishment,  but  nature's  end. 


PRO  MURENA 

Cedat,  opinor,  Sulpici,  forum  castris,  otium  militiae,  stilus  ProMurena. 
gladio,  umbra  soli :  sit  denique  in  civitate  ea  prima  res, 
propter  quam  ipsa  est  civitas  omnium  princeps.     14. 

Let  the  market  yield  to  the  camp,  peace  to  war,  the  pen  to  the 
sword,  the  shade  to  the  sunshine ;  let  us  give  the  first  place  in  the 
state  to  that  which  has  made  the  state  what  it  is  —  the  ruler  of 
the  world. 

Nihil  est  incertius  vulgo,  nihil  obscurius  voluntate  homi- 
num,  nihil  fallacius  ratione  tota  comitiorum.     17. 

Nothing  is  more  uncertain  than  the  masses,  nothing  more  diffi- 
cult to  gauge  than  the  temper  of  the  people,  nothing  more  deceptive 
than  the  opinions  of  the  electors. 

Dicunt  Stoici,  omnia  peccata  esse  paria ;  omne  delictum 
scelus  esse  nefarium,  nee  minus  delinquere  eum,  qui  gal- 
lum  gallinaceum,  quum  opus  non  fuerit,  quam  eum  qui 
patrem  suffocaverit:  sapientem  nihil  opinari,  nullius  rei 
poenitere,  nulla  in  re  f  alii,  sententiam  mutare  nunquam.  29. 


584  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

ProMurena.  The  Stoics  say  that  all  sins  are  on  an  equality;  that  every  fault 
is  a  heinous  crime;  that  the  man  who  needlessly  wrings  the  neck 
of  a  barndoor  fowl  is  as  much  a  wrong-doer  as  he  who  strangles 
his  own  father;  and  that  the  wise  man  is  never  in  doubt,  never 
suffers  remorse,  never  makes  a  mistake,  and  never  changes  his  mind. 

Nunquam  sapiens  irascitur.     30. 
The  wise  man  never  loses  his  temper. 

Improbi  hominis  est  mendacio  fallere.     30. 
It  is  the  act  of  a  bad  man  to  deceive  by  falsehood. 


PRO  PLANCIO 


Pro  Plancio.    Neque  est  ullum  amicitiae  certius  vinculum,  quam  consen- 
sus et  societas  consiliorum  et  voluntatum.     2. 

There  is  no  surer  bond  of  friendship  than  an  identity  and  com- 
munity of  ideas  and  tastes. 

Quod  ad  populum  pertinet,  semper  dignitatis  iniquus  judex 
est,  qui  aut  invidet  aut  fa  vet.    3. 

So  far  as  the  mob  is  concerned,  it  is  never  an  unbiassed  judge  of 
a  man's  worth,  being  swayed  either  by  malice  or  by  partiality. 

Non  est  enim  consilium  in  vulgo,  non  ratio,  non  discrimen, 
non  diligentia:  semperque  sapientes  ea  quae  populus  fecis- 
set  ferenda,  non  semper  laudanda,  duxerunt.    4. 

The  mob  has  no  judgment,  no  discretion,  no  discrimination, 
no  consistency ;  and  it  has  always  been  the  opinion  of  men  of  sense 
that  popular  movements  must  be  acquiesced  in,  but  not  always 
commended. 

Populo  grata  est  tabella,  quae  frontes  aperit  hominum, 
mentes  tegit:  datque  earn  libertatem,  ut,  quod  velint, 
faciant:  promittant  autem,  quod  rogentur.     6. 

The  voting  tablet  is  pleasing  to  the  people,  which  holds  up  to 
view  the  countenance,  while  it  conceals  the  intentions,  and  gives  a 
man  liberty  to  do  what  he  wishes,  but  to  promise  what  is  asked 
of  him. 

Pietas  fundamentum  est  omnium  vertutum.     12. 
Filial  piety  is  the  foundation  stone  of  all  the  virtues. 


PRO  PLANC10  585 

Nihil  est  autem  tarn  volucre  quam  maledictum :  nihil  f  acil-   Pro  Plancio. 
ins  emittitur,  nihil  citius  excipitur,  nihil  latius  dissipatur.  23. 
There  is  nothing  swifter  than  calumny;  nothing  is  more  easily 
set  on  foot,  more  quickly  caught  up,  or  more  widely  disseminated. 

Hujus  ilia  vox  vulgaris,  "audivi,"  ne  quid  reo  innocenti 
noceat,  oramus.    23. 

It  is  our  earnest  prayer  that  an  innocent  defendant  may  suffer 
no  injury  from  evidence  of  that  too  common  class,  the  "I  have 
heard." 

In  virtute  sunt  multi  adscensus.     25. 

In  the  approach  to  virtue  there  are  many  steps. 

Virtus,  probitas,  integritas  in  candidato,  non  linguae  volu- 
bilitas,  non  ars,  non  scientia  requiri  solet.     25. 

Virtue,  honesty,  uprightness  are  the  qualities  that  are  required 
in  a  candidate,  not  fluency  of  language,  nor  knowledge  of  arts  and 
sciences. 

M.  Cato  scripsit:  "Clarorum  virorum  atque  magnorum, 
non  minus  otii  quam  negotii,  rationem  exstare  opor- 
tere."    27. 

Marcus  Cato  said:  "The  illustrious  and  noble  ought  to  place 
before  them  certain  rules  and  regulations,  not  less  for  their  hours 
of  leisure  and  relaxation  than  for  those  of  business." 

Gratus  animus  est  una  virtus  non  solum  maxima,  sed 
etiam  mater  virtutum  omnium  reliquarum.    33. 

A  grateful  mind  is  not  only  the  greatest  of  virtues,  but  the 
parent  of  all  the  other  virtues. 

Quae  potest  esse  vitae  jucunditas  sublatis  amicitiis?    33. 
What  sweetness  is  left  in  life  if  you  take  away  friendship? 

Quis  est  nostrum  liberaliter  educatus,  cui  non  educatores, 
cui  non  magistri  sui  atque  doctores,  cui  non  locus  ipse  ille 
mutus,  ubi  alitus  aut  doctus  est,  cum  grata  recordatione 
in  mente  versetur?    33. 

Who  of  us  is  there  that  has  been  liberally  brought  up,  who  does 
not  gratefully  remember  those  who  have  brought  him  up,  his 
masters,  and  teachers,  even  that  mute  place,  where  he  has  been 
nourished  and  taught? 


586  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Pro  Plando.  Ego  vero  haec  didici,  haec  vidi,  haec  scripta  legi;  haec  de 
sapientissimis  et  clarissimis  viris  et  in  hac  republica  et  in 
aliis  civitatibus  monumenta,  nobis  literae  prodiderunt:  non 
semper  easdem  sententias  ab  iisdem,  sed,  quascumque 
reipublicae  status,  inclinatio  temporum,  ratio  concordiae 
postularet  esse  defendendas.     39. 

I  have  learnt,  seen,  and  read,  that  the  following  are  the  proper 
principles  for  the  guidance  of  man :  Ancient  records  and  the  annals 
of  literature,  both  of  this  state  and  of  others,  have  handed  it  down 
to  us  as  the  words  of  the  wise  and  noble,  that  the  same  opinions 
and  sentiments  are  not  invariably  to  be  supported  by  the  same 
individuals,  but  that  they  ought  to  adopt  those  which  may  be  re- 
quired by  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  the  position  in  which  the 
state  is  placed,  and  according  as  the  peace  and  agreement  of  parties 
may  require. 


PRO  P.  QUINCTIO 

ProP.Qu'mctio,  Fit  magna  mutatio  loci,  non  ingenii.    3. 

There  is  indeed  a  change  of  scene,  but  not  of  nature. 

Pecuniam  si  cuipiam  fortuna  ademit,  aut  si  alicujus  eripuit 
injuria,  tamen  dum  existimatio  est  integra,  facile  conso- 
latur  honestas  egestatem.     15. 

If  fortune  or  another's  crime  has  deprived  us  of  our  wealth,  yet 
so  long  as  our  reputation  is  untarnished,  our  character  will  console 
us  for  our  poverty. 

De  quo  libelli  in  celeberrimis  locis  proponuntur,  huic  ne 
perire  quidem  tacite  obscureque  conceditur.     15. 

He  who  has  once  become  celebrated  in  the  busy  centers  of  life 
is  not  permitted  even  to  die  in  silence  and  obscurity. 

Jugulare  civem  ne  jure  quidem  quisquam  bonus  vult; 
mavult  enim  commemorare,  se,  quum  posset  perdere 
pepercisse,  quam,  quum  parcere  potuerit,  perdidisse.  16. 
No  honest  man  desires  to  cause  the  death  of  a  fellow-man,  even 
by  lawful  means;  he  prefers  always  to  remember  that,  when  he 
could  have  destroyed,  he  spared,  rather  than  that  when  he  could 
have  spared,  he  destroyed. 


PRO  ROSCIO  AMERINO 


587 


PRO  REGE  DEIOTARO 


"Pereant  amici,  dum  una  inimici  intercidant." 
with  disapproval  by  Cicero]  9. 

Let  our  friends  perish,  if  only  our  enemies  are  destroyed  with 
them. 


[Quoted    ProRege 
Deiotaro. 


Frugi  hominem  dici,  non  multum  habet  laudis  in  rege: 
fortem,  justum,  severum,  gravem,  magnanimum,  largum, 
beneficum,  liberalem ;  haec  sunt  regiae  laudes,  ilia  privata 
est.    9. 

Frugality  is  no  great  merit  in  a  king;  courage,  rectitude,  aus- 
terity, dignity,  magnanimity,  generosity,  beneficence,  liberality: 
these  are  kingly  qualities;   frugality  befits  rather  a  private  station. 

Fit  in  dominatu  servitus,  in  servitute  dominatus.     1 1. 

He  who  should  be  the  master  sometimes  takes  the  place  of  the 
slave ;  he  who  should  be  the  slave  becomes  the  master. 


PRO  ROSCIO  AMERINO 

Magna  est  enim  vis  humanitatis;  multum  valet  communio  ProRoscio 
sanguinis.     Portentum  atque  monstrum  certissimum  est,  Amerino. 
esse  aliquem  humana  specie  et  figura,  qui  tantum  imman- 
itate  bestias  vicerit,  ut  propter  quos  hanc  suavissimam 
lucem  aspexerit,  eos  indignissime  luce  privarit.    22. 

Strong  is  the  bond  of  our  common  humanity ;  great  is  the  tie  of 
kinship.  It  is  a  most  undeniable  portent  and  prodigy  that  there 
should  be  one  having  the  human  shape,  who  should  so  exceed  the 
beasts  in  savage  nature  as  to  deprive  those  of  life,  by  whose  means 
he  has  himself  beheld  this  most  desirable  light  of  life. 

Sua  quemque  fraus,  et  suus  terror  maxime  vexat:  suum 
quemque  scelus  agitat,  amentiaque  afficit:  suae  malae  cogi- 
tationes  conscientiaeque  animi  terrent,  hae  sunt  impiis 
assiduae  domesticaeque  Furiae;  quae  dies  noctesque  paren- 
tum  poenas  a  consceleratissimis  filiis  repetant.    24. 

It  is  the  terror  that  arises  from  his  own  dishonest  and  evil  life 
that  chiefly  torments  a  man :  his  wickedness  drives  him  to  and  fro, 
racking  him  to  madness;  the  consciousness  of  bad  thoughts  and 
worse  deeds  terrifies  him:  these  are  the  never-dying  Furies  that  in- 
wardly gnaw  his  life  away;  which  day  and  night  call  for  punish- 
ment on  wicked  children  for  their  behavior  to  their  parents. 


588  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Pro  Roscio       "Solon,  quum  interrogaretur,  cur  nullum  supplicium  con- 
menno.        stituisset  in  eum,  qui  parentem  necasset,  respondit  se  id 
neminem  facturum  putasse."     25. 

Solon,  when  asked  why  he  had  not  provided  any  penalty  for  the 
parricide,  replied  that  he  had  not  thought  any  man  capable  of  the 
crime. 

Ut  non  omnem  frugem  neque  arborem  in  omni  agro 
reperire  possis,  sic  non  omne  facinus  in  omni  vita  nasci- 
tur.     27. 

Just  as  we  do  not  find  in  every  field  every  fruit  and  tree,  so  not 
every  vice  is  produced  in  every  life. 

Is  mihi  videtur  amplissimus  qui  sua  virtute  in  altiorem 
locum  pervenit.    30. 

He  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  noblest,  who  has  raised  himself  by  his 
own  merit  to  a  higher  station. 

L.  Cassius  ille,  quern  populus  Romanus  verissimum  et 
sapientissimum  judicem  putabat,  identidem  in  causis  quae- 
rere  solebat,  cm  bono  fuisset.    30. 

L.  Cassius,  whom  the  Roman  people  used  to  regard  as  the  best 
and  wisest  of  judges,  inquired  ever  and  anon  at  a  trial:  for  whose 
advantage  the  deed  was  committed. 

Non  enim  possumus  omnia  per  nos  agere :  alius  in  alia  est 
re  magis  utilis.     38. 

For  we  cannot  do  everything  by  ourselves;  different  men  have 
different  abilities. 

PRO  ROSCIO  COMOEDO 

Pro  Roscio      Ut   ignis   in    aquam   conjectus,    continuo    restinguitur   et 
Comoedo.        ref rigeratur :  sic  refervens  falsum  crimen  in  purissimam  et 

castissimam  vitam  collatum,  statim  concidit  et  exstingui- 

tur.     6. 

As  fire,  when  it  is  thrown  into  water,  is  cooled  down  and  put 

out,  so  also  a  false  accusation,  when  brought  against  a  man  of  the 

purest  and  holiest  character,  falls  away  at  once  and  vanishes. 

Sic  est  vulgus;  ex  veritate  pauca,  ex  opinione  multa 
aestimat.     10. 


PRO  SULLA  589 

The  masses  are  so  constituted  that  they  measure  but  few  things  Pro  Roscio 
by  the  standard  of  fact,  most  by  the  standard  of  conjecture.  Comoedo. 

Quae  poena  a  diis  immortalibus  perjuro,  haec  eadem  men- 
daci  constituta  est.  Non  enim  ex  pactione  verborum, 
quibus  jusjurandum  comprehenditur,  sed  ex  perfidia  et 
malitia  dii  immortales  hominibus  irasci  et  succensere  con- 
suerunt.     16. 

The  same  punishment  which  the  gods  inflict  on  the  perjured  is 
prepared  for  the  liar.  For  it  is  not  the  form  of  words  in  which 
the  oath  is  wrapped  up,  but  the  perfidy  and  malice  of  the  act  that 
excite  the  wrath  and  anger  of  the  immortal  gods  against  men. 

Qui  semel  a  veritate  deflexit,  hie  non  majore  religione  ad 
perjurium  quam  ad  mendacium  perduci  consuevit.     16. 

The  man  who  has  once  deviated  from  the  truth  is  usually  led 
on  by  no  greater  scruples  to  commit  perjury  than  to  tell  a  lie. 

PRO  SESTIO 

Id  quod  est  praestantissimum,  maximeque  optabile  omni-  ProSestio. 
bus  sanis  et  bonis  et  beatis,  cum  dignitate  otium.    45. 

"That  which  stands  first,  and  is  most  to  be  desired  by  all  happy, 
honest,  and  healthy-minded  men,  is  ease  with  dignity." 

Oderint  dum  metuant.    48. 

Let  them  hate,  provided  they  fear. 

Gurges  et  vorago  malorum.     52. 
An  abyss  and  gulf  of  evils. 

PRO  SULLA 

Status    enim    reipublicae   maxime    judicatis    rebus    coriti-  Pro  Sulla. 
netur.    22. 

The  solidity  of  a  state  is  very  largely  bound  up  in  its  judicial 
decisions. 

Neque  enim  potest  quisquam  nostrum  subito  fingi,  neque 
cujusquam  repente  vita  mutari,  aut  natura  convert!.    25. 

No  one  of  us  can  suddenly  assume  a  character,  or  instantly 
change  his  mode  of  life,  or  alter  his  nature. 


590  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


PRO  TULLIO 

Pro  Tullio.  O  dii  immortales  (vobis  enim  tribuam,  quae  vestra  sunt), 
vos  profecto  animum  meum  turn  conservandae  patriae 
cupiditate  incendistis,  vos  me  ab  omnibus  caeteris  cogita- 
tionibus  ad  unam  salutem  reipublicae  contulistis,  vos  de- 
nique  in  tantis  tenebris  erroris  et  inscientiae  clarissimum 
lumen  praetulistis  menti  suae.    xiv. 

Ye  immortal  gods  (for  I  shall  grant  what  is  yours),  it  was  you 
doubtless  that  then  roused  me  to  the  desire  of  saving  my  country; 
it  was  you  who  turned  me  away  from  all  other  thoughts  to  the  one 
idea  of  preserving  the  Republic;  it  was  you  in  short  who,  amidst 
all  that  darkness  of  error  and  ignorance,  held  up  a  bright  light 
before  my  mind. 

Ad  damnum  adderetur  injuria.    XVII. 
That  would  be  adding  insult  to  injury. 

"Haec  enim  tacita  lex  est  humanitatis,  ut  ab  homine  con- 
silii,  non  fortunae,  poena  repetatur."    Fragment  51. 

"It  is  one  of  humanity's  unwritten  laws,  that  a  man  has  to  pay 
the  penalty  for  the  intention,  not  for  the  results  of  his  actions." 


RHETORICA  AD  HERENNIUM 

RhetoricaAd  Esse  oportet  ut  vivas,  non  vivere  ut  edas. 
Herenmum.  Thou  shouldst  eat  to  live,  not  live  to  eat. 


TUSCULANAE  DISPUTATIONES 

Tusculanae     Honos  alit  artes  omnesque  incenduntur  ad  studia  gloria: 
Disputa-         jacentque   ea  semper,   quae   apud  quosque  improbantur. 

1,  2. 

The  honor  shown  to  arts  cherishes  them,  for  all  are  incited  by 

fame  to  their  pursuit;    the  arts  which  are  contemned  by  a  people 

ever  make  but  little  progress. 


tiones. 


Fieri  autem  potest,  ut  recte  quis  sentiat,  et  id,  quod  sentit, 
polite  eloqui  non  possit.  Sed  mandare  quemquam  litteris 
cogitationes  suas,  qui  eas  nee  disponere,  nee  illustrare  pos- 


tiones. 


TUSCULANAE  DISPUTATIONES  591 

sit,  nee  delectatione  aliqua  allicere  lectorem,  hominis  est   Tusculanae 
intemperanter  abutentis  et  otio,  et  litteris.    I,  3.  Disputa- 

It  may  happen  that  a  man  may  think  rightly,  yet  cannot  express 
elegantly  what  he  thinks.  But  that  anyone  should  commit  his 
thoughts  to  writing  who  can  neither  arrange  nor  explain  them 
nor  amuse  the  reader  is  the  part  of  a  man  which  unreasonably 
abuses  both  his  leisure  and  learning. 

Epicharmi  ista  sententia : 

"Emori  nolo:  sed  me  esse  mortuum  nihil  aestimo."     I,  8. 

That  sentiment  of  Epicharmus: 

I  am  unwilling  to  die,  but  I  value  myself  as  nothing  when  dead. 

Dum  lego,  assentior:  cum  posui  librum,  et  mecum  ipse  de 
immortalitate  animorum  coepi  cogitare,  assensio  omnis 
ilia  elabitur.    I,  11. 

While  I  read,  I  assent;  when  I  have  laid  down  the  book,  and 
have  begun  to  meditate  on  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  all  this 
feeling  of  acquiescence  vanishes. 

Antiquitas  quo  propius  aberat  ab  ortu  et  divina  progenie, 
hoc  melius  ea  fortasse,  quae  erant  vera,  cernebat.     I,  12. 
Antiquity,  the  nearer  it  was  to  its  divine  origin,  perhaps  per- 
ceived more  clearly  what  things  were  true. 

Mortem  non  interitum  esse  omnia  tollentem  atque  delen- 
tem ;  sed  quandam  quasi  migrationem  commutationemque 
vitae.    I,  12. 

Death  is  no  annihilation,  no  carrying  off  and  blotting  out  of 
everything,  but  rather,  if  I  may  so  describe  it,  a  change  of  abode, 
and  an  alteration  in  our  manner  of  life. 

Nulla  gens  tarn  fera,  nemo  omnium  tarn  est  immanis, 
cujus  mentem  non  imbuerit  deorum  opinio.  Multi  de 
diis  prava  sentiunt,  omnes  tamen  esse  vim  et  naturam 
divinam  arbitrantur.    I,  13. 

No  nation  is  so  barbarous,  no  one  is  so  savage,  whose  mind  is 
not  imbued  with  some  idea  of  the  gods.  Many  entertain  foolish 
ideas  respecting  them,  yet  all  agree  that  there  is  some  divine  power 
and  nature. 

"Omni  autem  in  re  consensio  omnium  gentium  lex  naturae 
putanda  est."    I,  13. 


592 

Tusculanae 

Disputa- 

tiones. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

"The  unanimous  agreement  of  the  nations  upon  any  subject  may 
be  considered  equivalent  to  a  law  of  nature." 

Arbores  serit  diligens  agricola,  quarum  adspiciet  baccam 
ipse  nunquam.    I,  14. 

The  industrious  husbandman  plants  trees  of  which  he  himself 
will  never  see  a  berry. 

Nemo  umquam  sine  magna  spe  immortalitatis  se  pro 
patria  offerret  ad  mortem.     1,  15. 

Nobody  could  ever  meet  death  in  defense  of  his  country  without 
the  hope  of  immortality. 

"Quid  nostri  philosophi?  nonne  in  his  libris  ipsis,  quos 
scribunt  de  contemnenda  gloria,  sua  nomina  inscribunt?" 
I,  15. 

"What  shall  we  say  of  our  philosophers?  Do  they  not  put 
their  names  on  the  title-page  of  the  very  books  which  they  write  in 
depreciation  of  vainglory?" 

"Magni  autem  est  ingenii  sevocare  mentem  a  sensibus  et 
cogitationem  a  consuetudine  abducere."    I,  16. 

"The  power  of  separating  the  intellect  from  the  senses,  and 
reason  from  instinct,  is  characteristic  of  the  highest  genius." 

Errare  mehercule  malo  cum  Platone,  quern  tu  quanti 
facias,  scio,  quam  cum  istis  vera  sentire.    I,  17. 

By  Hercules,  I  prefer  to  err  with  Plato,  whom  I  know  how 
much  you  value,  than  to  be  right  in  the  company  of  such  men. 

"Quam  quisque  norit  artem,  in  hac  se  exerceat"    I,  18. 
Let  a  man  practice  the  profession  in  which  he  is  best  versed. 

Natura  inest  in  mentibus  nostris  insatiabilis  quaedam 
cupiditas  veri  videndi.    1,19. 

Nature  has  implanted  in  our  minds  a  certain  insatiable  desire 
to  behold  the  truth. 

Animum  et  videre  et  audire,  non  eas  partes  quae  quasi 
fenestrae  sunt  animi.    I,  20. 

It  is  the  soul  which  sees  and  hears ;  not  those  parts  of  the  body 
which  are,  in  a  sense,  the  windows  of  the  soul. 


tiones. 


TUSCULANAE  DISPUTATIONES  593 

Mihi  quidem  naturam  animi  intuenti,  multo  difficilior  oc-  Tusculanae 
currit  cogitatio,  multoque  obscurior,  qualis  animus  in  cor-  Disputa- 
pore  sit,  tamquam  alienae  domui,  quam  qualis,  cum  exierit, 
et  in  liberum  coelum,  quasi  domum  suam  venerit.  I,  22. 
When  I  reflect  on  the  nature  of  the  soul,  it  is  much  more  difficult 
for  me  to  conceive  of  what  quality  the  soul  is  in  the  body,  where  it 
dwells  as  in  a  foreign  land,  than  what  it  must  be  like  when  it  has 
left  the  body  and  ascended  to  heaven,  its  own  peculiar  home. 

Est  illud  quidem  maximum,  animo  ipso  animum  videre: 
et  nimirum  hanc  habet  vim  praeceptum  Apollinis,  quo 
monet,  ut  se  quisque  noscat.  Non  enim  credo,  id  prae- 
cipit,  ut  membra  nostra,  aut  staturam,  figuramve  nosca- 
mus:  neque  nos  corpora  sumus:  neque  ego  tibi  dicens, 
corpori  tuo  dico.  Cum  igitur,  Nosce  te,  dicit,  hoc  dicit, 
Nosce  animum  tuum.  Nam  corpus  quidem  quasi  vas  est, 
aut  aliquod  animi  receptaculum.  Ab  animo  tuo  quidquid 
agitur,  id  agitur  acte.  Hunc  igitur  nosse,  nissi  divinum 
esset,  non  esset  hoc  acrioris  cujusdam  animi  praeceptum, 
sic,  ut  tributum  deo  sit.    I,  22. 

It  is  a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance  for  the  human  soul  to 
comprehend  its  own  nature ;  and  doubtless,  this  is  the  meaning  of 
Apollo's  precept,  enjoining  everyone  to  know  himself;  for  I  cannot 
think  it  directs  us  to  know  the  different  parts  of  our  bodies,  or  its 
stature  and  form.  Our  bodies  do  not  constitute  our  being;  nor 
when  I  discourse  with  you,  is  it  to  your  body  I  address  myself. 
Wherefore,  when  the  oracle  says,  Know  yourself,  it  certainly  in- 
tends, know  your  soul.  For  in  fact,  the  body  is  no  more  than  the 
vessel,  or  receptacle,  of  the  soul ;  and  the  actions  of  the  latter  can 
only  properly  be  called  the  actions  of  the  man.  In  fine,  were  not 
the  knowledge  of  the  soul  an  excellent  accomplishment,  it  could 
not  have  passed  for  an  apophthegm  of  such  acuteness,  as  to  have 
been  attributed  to  a  deity. 

"Nee  me  pudet  ut  istos,  fateri  nescire  quod  nesciam." 
I,  25. 

I  am  not,  like  some  men,  ashamed  to  confess  my  ignorance  when 
I  do  not  know. 

Quorum  conversiones,  omnesque  motus  qui  animus  vidit, 
is  docuit,  similem  animum  suum  ejus  esse,  qui  ea  fabricatus 
est  in  coelo.    I,  25. 

The  mind  that  has  comprehended  the  revolutions  and  the  com- 
plicated movements  of   the   heavenly  bodies  has   proved   that   it 


594  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Tusculanae      resembles  that  of  the  Being  who  has  fashioned  and  placed  them 

Disputa-  jn  tne  vault  0f  heaven. 

tiones. 

Philosophia,  omnium  mater  artium,  quid  est  aliud,  nisi, 
ut  Plato  ait,  donum,  ut  ego,  inventum  deorum  ?  Haec  nos 
primum  adillorum  cultum,  deinde  ad  jus  hominum,  quod 
situm  est  in  generis  humani  societate,  turn  ad  modestiam, 
magnitudinemque  animi  erudivit:  eademque  ab  animo, 
tamquam  ab  oculis,  caliginem  dispulit.     I,  26. 

Philosophy,  the  mother  of  all  arts,  what  else  is  it,  except,  as 
Plato  says,  the  gift,  or  as  I  say,  the  invention,  of  the  gods?  It  is 
she  that  has  taught  us  first  to  worship  them,  next  has  instructed  us 
in  the  legal  rights  of  mankind,  which  arise  out  of  the  social  union 
of  the  human  race,  then  has  shown  us  the  moderation  and  great- 
ness of  the  mind;  and  she  too  has  dispelled  darkness  from  the 
mind  as  from  the  eyes. 

Ita  quidquid  est  illud,  quod  sentit,  quod  sapit,  quod  vlvit, 
quod  viget,  coeleste  et  divinum  est  ob  eamque  rem  aeter- 
num  sit  necesse  est.    I,  27. 

Whatever  that  principle  is  which  feels,  conceives,  lives,  and 
exists,  it  is  heavenly  and  divine,  and  therefore  must  be  eternal. 

Mentem  hominis,  quamvis  earn  non  videas,  ut  deum  non 
vides:  tamen  ut  deum  agnoscis  ex  operibus  ejus,  sic  ex  me- 
moria  rerum,  et  inventione,  et  celeritate  motus,  omnique 
pulchritudine  virtutis  vim  divinam  mentis  agnoscito.  I,  29. 
Although  thou  art  not  able  to  see  the  mind  of  man,  as  thou  seest 
not  God,  yet  as  thou  recognizest  God  from  His  works,  so  thou 
must  acknowledge  the  divine  power  of  the  mind  from  its  recollec- 
tion of  past  events,  its  powers  of  invention,  from  its  rapidity  of 
movement,  and  the  desire  it  has  for  the  beautiful. 

Cygni  providentes  quid  in  morte  boni  sit,  cum  cantu  et 
voluptate  moriantur.     I,  30. 

The  swan,  foreseeing  how  much  good  there  is  in  death,  dies 
with  song  and  rejoicing. 

Vetat  dominans  ille  in  nobis  deus,  injussu  hinc  nos  suo 
demigrare.     I,  30. 

That  divine  principle  that  rules  within  us  forbids  us  to  leave 
this  world  without  the  order  of  the  Deity. 


TUSCULANAE  DISPUTATIONES 


595 


Tota  philosophorum  vita  commentatio  mortis  est.    I, 
The  whole  life  of  philosophers  is  a  commentary  on  death. 


30- 


Tusculatiae 

Disputa- 

tiones. 


Ita  enim  censebat,  itaque  disseruit,  duas  esse  vias,  du- 
plicesque  cursus  animorum  e  corpore  excedentium,  nam 
qui  se  humanis  vitiis  contaminavissent,  et  se  totos  libidini- 
bus  dedissent,  quibus  coecati,  vel  domesticis  vitiis  atque 
flagitiis  se  inquinavissent,  vel  republica  violanda  fraudes 
inexpiabiles  concepissent,  iis  devium  quoddam  iter  esse, 
seclusum  a  concilio  deorum.  Qui  autem  se  integros,  cas- 
tosque  servavissent,  quibusque  fuisset  minima  cum  cor- 
poribus  contagio,  seseque  ab  his  semper  sevocassent,  es- 
sentque  in  corporibus  humanis  vitam  imitati  deorum:  his 
ad  illos,  a  quibus  essent  profecti,  reditum  facilem  patere. 

Ii  30- 

The  opinion  of  Socrates  was  to  the  following  effect,  and  thus  he 
spoke :  There  are  two  roads  and  two  directions  which  souls  take 
on  leaving  the  body.  Those  who  have  spent  their  lives  in  vicious 
practices,  giving  themselves  wholly  up  to  the  lusts  of  the  body,  so 
as  to  become  blinded  to  all  that  is  good,  or  who  have  sunk  into  the 
mire  of  private  filth  and  wickedness,  or  who  have  committed  in- 
expiable crimes  against  their  country,  such  go  to  a  separate  abode, 
away  from  the  gods.  Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  have  kept 
themselves  pure  and  chaste,  little  subject  to  fleshly  lusts,  but  imi- 
tating the  life  of  the  gods,  find  no  difficulty  in  returning  to  those 
from  whom  they  came. 

Aristoteles  quidem  ait:  "Omnes  ingeniosos  melancholicos 
esse."    I,  33. 

Aristotle  says  that  all  men  of  genius  are  melancholy. 

Ut  nihil  pertinuit  ad  nos  ante  ortum,  sic  nihil  post  mortem 
pertinebit.    I,  38. 

As  we  possessed  nothing  before  birth,  so  will  nothing  remain  to 
us  after  death. 

Natura  dedit  usuram  vitae,  tamquam  pecuniae,  nulla 
praestituta  die.    I,  39. 

Nature  has  bestowed  on  us  life  at  interest  like  money,  no  day 
being  fixed  for  its  repayment. 

"Die,  hospes,  Spartae,  nos  te  hie  vidisse  jacentes, 
Dum  Sanctis  patriae  legibus  obsequimur." 
[Epitaph  of  the  Three  Hundred  at  Thermopylae]  1,  42. 


596 


Tusculanae 

Disputa- 

tiones. 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Go  tell  the  Spartans,  thou  that  passest  by, 
That  here  obedient  to  their  laws  we  lie. 

Undique  enim  ad  inferos  tantundem  viae  est.     I,  43. 
There  are  innumerable  roads  on  all  sides  to  the  grave. 

Nemo  parum   diu  vixit,   qui  virtutis  perfectae   perfecto 
functus  est  munere.     1,  45. 

Every  man  has  lived  long  enough  who  has  gone  through  all  the 
duties  of  life  with  unblemished  character. 

Gloria  virtutem  tamquam  umbra  sequitur.     I,  45. 
Glory  follows  virtue  as  if  it  were  its  shadow. 

Non  nasci  homini  longe  optimum  esse   (docuit)  ;  proxi- 
mum  autem,  quam  primum  mori.     I,  48. 

He  taught  that  by  far  the  happiest  fate  for  a  man  was  not  to  be 
born ;  the  next  happiest,  to  die  very  early. 

Non  enim  temere  nee  fortuito  sati  et  creati  sumus,  sed 
profecto  fuitquaedam  vis,  quae  generi  consuleret  humano: 
nee  id  gigneret,  aut  aleret,  quod,  cum  exantlavisset  omnes 
labores,  turn  incideret  in  mortis  malum  sempiternum,  por- 
tum  potius  paratum  nobis  et  perfugium  putemus.  1,  49. 
For  we  have  not  been  framed  or  created  without  design  nor  by 
chance,  but  there  has  been  truly  some  certain  power,  which  had 
in  view  the  happiness  of  mankind ;  neither  producing  nor  main- 
taining a  being,  which,  when  it  had  completed  all  its  labors,  should 
then  sink  into  the  eternal  misery  of  death :  rather  let  us  think  that 
there  is  a  haven  and  a  refuge  prepared  for  us. 

Supremus  ille  dies  non  nostri  extinctionem  sed  commuta- 
tionem  affect  loci.    I,  49. 

That  last  day  brings  to  us,  not  extinction,  but  only  change  of 
place. 

Non  enim  temere  nee  fortuito  sati  et  creati  sumus.    1,  49. 
We  were  not  begotten  and  born  for  nothing,  or  haphazard. 

Quotus  quisque  philosophorum  invenitur,  qui  sit  ita  mora- 
tus,  ita  animo  ac  vita  constitutes,  ut  ratio  postulat?    11,  4. 
How  few  philosophers  are  there  whose  habits,  mind,  and  lives 
are  constituted  as  reason  demands. 


TUSCULANAE  DISPUTATIONES  597 

Agri  non  omnes  frugiferi  sunt.    II,  5.  Tusculanae 

All  fields  are  not  fruitful.  ,-"  "  °~ 


ttones. 


Ut  ager  quamvis  fertilis  sine  cultura  fructuosus  esse  non 
potest,  sic  sine  doctrina  animus.    II,  5. 

A  mind  without  instruction  can  no  more  bear  fruit  than  can  a 
field,  however  fertile,  without  cultivation. 

Cultura  animi,  philosophia  est:  haec  extrahit  vitia  radi- 
citus,  et  praeparat  animos  ad  satus  accipiendos.    II,  5. 

Philosophy  is  the  cultivation  of  the  mental  faculties ;  it  roots  out 
vices  and  prepares  the  mind  to  receive  proper  seed. 

Qui  alteri  exitium  parat, 
Eum   scire   oportet  sibi   paratam  pestem,   ut   participet 
parem."    11,  17. 
He  who  is  preparing  destruction  for  another  may  be  certain 
that  his  own  life  is  in  danger. 

Consuetudinis  magna  vis  est.    II,  17. 
Great  is  the  force  of  habit. 

Domina  omnium  et  regina  ratio.    11,  21. 
Reason  is  the  mistress  and  queen  of  all  things. 

Hoc  quidem  in  dolore  maxime  est  providendum,  ne  quid 
abjecte,  ne  quid  timide,  ne  quid  ignave,  ne  quid  serviliter 
muliebriterve  faciamus.     II,  23. 

When  in  deep  sorrow,  we  must  be  specially  careful  to  do  noth- 
ing which  savors  of  dejection  or  timidity,  of  cowardice,  servility, 
or  womanishness. 

Non  sentiunt  viri  fortes  in  acie  vulnera.    II,  24. 

In  the  stress  of  battle  brave  men  do  not  feel  their  wounds. 

Tuo  tibi  judicio  est  utendum :  tibi  si  recta  probanti  place- 
bis,  turn  non  modo  tu  te  viceris,  ....  sed  omnes  et 
omnia.    II,  26. 

You  must  use  your  own  judgment  on  yourself:  if,  when  you  are 
testing  what  is  right,  you  succeed  in  pleasing  yourself,  then  you 
have  overcome  not  yourself  only,  but  all  men  and  all  things. 


598 


CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Tusculanae 
Disputa- 
tion es. 


Mihi  quidem  laudabiliora  videntur  omnia,  quae  sine  ven- 
ditatione  et  sine  populo  teste  fiunt:  non  quo  fugiendus  sit 
(omnia  enim  benefacta  in  luce  se  collocari  volunt),  sed 
tamen  nullum  theatrum  virtuti  conscientia  majus  est. 
II,  26. 

Whatever  is  done  without  ostentation,  and  without  the  peo- 
ple's being  witnesses  of  it,  is,  in  my  opinion,  most  praiseworthy; 
not  that  the  public  eye  should  be  entirely  avoided,  for  good  actions 
desire  to  be  placed  in  the  light;  but  notwithstanding  this,  the 
greatest  theater  for  virtue  is  conscience. 

Nunc  autem,  simul  atque  editi  in  lucem,  et  suscepti  sumus, 
in  omni  continuo  pravitate,  et  in  summa  opinionum  per- 
versitate  versamur,  ut  paene  cum  lacte  nutricis  errorem 
suxisse  videamur.     111,   1. 

Now  as  soon  as  we  have  been  ushered  into  the  light  of  day  and 
brought  up,  at  once  we  become  engaged  in  every  kind  of  wicked 
practice  and  the  utmost  perversity,  so  that  we  seem  to  have  sucked 
in  error  almost  with  our  nurse's  milk. 

Est  enim  gloria,  solida  quaedam  res,  et  expressa,  non 
adumbrata ;  ea  est  consentiens  laus  bonorum,  incorrupta 
vox  bene  judicantium  de  excellente  virtute;  ea  virtuti  reso- 
nat,  tamquam  imago,  quae  quia  recte  factorum  plerumque 
comes  est,  non  est  bonis  viris  repudianda.    ill,  2. 

Glory  is  something  that  is  really  and  actually  existing,  and  not 
a  mere  sketch ;  it  is  the  united  expression  of  approval  by  the  good, 
the  genuine  testimony  of  men  who  have  the  power  of  forming  a 
proper  judgment  of  virtuous  conduct;  it  is  the  sound  given  back 
by  virtue,  like  the  echoes  of  the  woods,  which,  as  it  usually  attends 
on  virtuous  actions,  is  not  to  be  despised  by  the  good. 

Morbi  perniciosiores  pluresque  sunt  animi  quam  corporis. 
HI,  3- 

The  diseases  of  the  mind  are  more  destructive  and  in  greater 
number  than  those  of  the  body. 

Est  profecto  animi  medicina,  philosophia.    Ill,  3. 
The  true  medicine  of  the  mind  is  philosophy. 

In  animo  perturbato,  sicut  in  corpore,  sanitas  esse  non 
potest,    ill,  4. 

When  the  mind  is  in  a  disturbed  state,  health  cannot  exist,  even 
as  is  the  case  with  the  body. 


TUSCULANAE  DISPUTATIONES  599 

Nimirum  haec  est  ilia  praestans  et  divina  sapientia,  et   Tusculanae 
perceptas  penitus   et  pertractatas   res  humanas  habere;  Disputa- 
nihil  admirari,  cum  accident;  nihil,  antequam  evenerit,   tlones- 
non  evenire  posse  arbitrari.    ill,  14. 

The  highest,  the  divine  wisdom  consists  in  having  investigated 
and  mastered  the  innermost  nature  of  all  that  pertains  to  man- 
kind ;  in  being  surprised  at  nothing  which  happens,  and  in  believ- 
ing, before  the  event,  that  everything  is  possible. 

Epicurus  censet  stultam  esse  meditationem  futuri  mali 
aut  fortasse  ne  futuri  quidem:  satis  esse  odiosum  malum 
omne,  cum  venisset.    ill,  15. 

Epicurus  thinks  that  it  is  foolish  to  anticipate  future  evils, 
which  may  never  happen:  "sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil 
thereof." 

"Reddenda  est  terra  terrae."     Ill,  25. 
Dust  must  be  consigned  to  dust. 

"Mortalis  nemo  est,  quern  non  attingat  dolor, 
Morbusque."    Ill,  25. 
There  is  no  mortal  whom  pain  and  disease  do  not  reach. 

Stultum  est  in  luctu  capillum  sibi  evellere,  quasi  calvitio 
maeror  levaretur.    ill,  26. 

It  is  folly  to  tear  one's  hair  in  sorrow,  as  if  grief  could  be 
assuaged  by  baldness. 

Est  proprium  stultitiae,  aliorum  vitia  cernere,  oblivisci 
suorum.    ill,  30. 

It  is  the  peculiar  quality  of  a  fool  to  be  quick  in  seeing  the  faults 
of  others,  while  he  easily  forgets  his  own. 

Quid  praeclarum,  non  idem  arduum?    in,  34. 

What  is  there  that  is  illustrious,  that  is  not  also  attended  by 
labor? 

Est  Zenonis  haec  definitio,  ut  perturbatio  sit,  aversa  a 
recta  ratione,  contra  naturam,  animi  commotio.  Quidam 
brevius,  perturbationem  esse  appetitum  vehementiorem : 
sed  vehementiorem  eum  volunt  esse,  qui  longius  disces- 
serit  a  naturae  constantia.  Partes  autem  perturbationum 
volunt  ex  duobus  opinatis  bonis  nasci,  et  ex  duobus  opina- 


hones. 


600  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Tusculanae  tis  malis :  ita  esse  quatuor.  Ex  bonis  libidinem,  et  laeti- 
Disputa-  tiam ;  ut  sit  laetitia,  praesentium  bonorum ;  libido,  futuro- 
rum.  Ex  malis,  metum,  et  aegritudinem  nasci  censent: 
metum,  futuris;  aegritudinem,  praesentibus.  Quae  enim 
venientia  metuuntur,  eadem  efficiunt  aegritudinem 
instantia.     IV,  6. 

Zeno  defines  all  passion  to  be  a  commotion  of  the  soul,  oppo- 
site to  right  reason,  and  contrary  to  nature.  Others,  in  fewer 
words,  that  it  is  an  excessive  appetite,  or  such  as  exceeds  the 
bounds  prescribed  by  nature.  Now,  according  to  these  men,  there 
are  two  kinds  of  good,  and  as  many  of  evil,  whence  arise  so  many 
passions.  Those,  arising  from  good,  are  joy  and  desire;  the  for- 
mer resulting  from  a  good  in  possession,  and  the  latter  from  that 
in  expectation.  The  passions  supposed  to  spring  from  evil  are 
sorrow  and  fear;  sorrow  regards  present  evil,  and  fear  that  which 
is  to  come;  for  whatever  excites  fear,  when  in  prospect,  naturally 
raises  sorrow,  when  present. 

Ira  est  libido  puniendi  ejus,  qui  videatur  laesisse  injuria. 
IV,  9. 

Anger  is  the  desire  of  punishing  the  man  who  seems  to  have 
injured  you. 

Odium  est  ira  inveterata.    IV,  9. 
Hatred  is  ingrained  anger. 

Discordia  est  ira  acerbior  odio,  intimo  corde  concepta. 
IV,  9. 

Discord  is  anger  more  bitter  than  hatred,  conceived  in  the 
inmost  breast. 

Omnium  autem  perturbationum  fontem  esse  dicunt  intem- 
perantiam;  quae  est  a  tota  mente  defectio,  sic  aversa  a 
praescriptione  rationis,  ut  nullo  modo  appetitiones  animi 
nee  regi  nee  contineri  queant.    IV,  9. 

The  source  of  the  passions  is  want  of  moderation,  which  is  a 
revolt  against  the  intellectual  faculties,  and  so  opposed  to  the  dic- 
tates of  reason  as  to  destroy  all  control  and  restraint  of  our  desires. 

Cum  est  concupita  pecunia,  nee  ratio  sanat  cupiditatem, 
existit  morbus  animi  eique  morbo  nomen  est  avaritia. 
IV,  11. 


TUSCULANAE  DISPUTATIONES  601 

When  money  is  coveted,  and  reason  does  not  cure  the  desire,    Tusculanae 
there   a   disease   of   the   mind   exists,    and   that   disease    is   called    Dhputa- 
"avarice."  tiones. 

Ita  fit  ut  corruptione  opinionum  morbus  fit.     IV,  13. 

Hence  it  happens  that  mental  diseases  take  their  rise  from  the 
corrupt  state  of  the  sentiments. 

Si  ridere  concessum  sit,  vituperatur  tamen  cachinnatio. 
IV,  31. 

Though  a  laugh  is  allowable,  a  horse-laugh  is  abominable. 

Virtus  hominem  jungit  Deo.    iv,  45. 
Virtue  joins  man  to  God. 

O  vitae  philosophia  dux !  O  virtutis  indagatrix,  expul- 
trixque  vitiorum !  quid  non  modo  nos,  sed  omnino  vita 
hominum  sine  te  esse  potuisset?  tu  urbes  peperisti:  tu 
dissipatos  homines  in  societatem  vitae  convocasti:  tu  eos 
inter  se  primo  domiciliis,  deinde  conjugiis,  turn  litterarum, 
et  vocum  communione  junxisti :  tu  inventrix  legum,  tu 
magistra  morum,  et  disciplinae  fuisti:  ad  te  confugimus: 
a  te  opem  petimus.  Est  autem  unus  dies  bene,  et  ex 
praeceptis  tuis  actus,  peccanti  immortalitati  anteponendus. 
v,  2. 

Philosophy,  thou  guide  of  life !  Thou  searcher  after  virtue,  and 
banisher  of  vice!  What  would  not  only  we  ourselves,  but  the 
whole  life  of  men,  have  been  without  thy  aid?  It  is  thou  that 
foundedst  cities,  collectedst  men  in  social  union ;  thou  that  brought- 
est  them  together  first  in  dwellings,  then  in  marriage,  then  in  all 
the  delights  of  literature;  thou  discoveredst  laws,  bestowedst  on 
men  virtuous  habits:  to  thee  we  fly  for  aid.  One  day  spent  virtu- 
ously, and  in  obedience  to  thy  precepts,  is  worth  an  immortality 
of  sin. 

Socrates  primus  philosophiam  devocavit  e  coelo,  et  in 
urbibus  collocavit,  et  in  domos  etiam  introduxit,  et  coegit 
de  vita,  et  moribus,  rebusque  bonis  et  malis  quaerere.  v,  4. 
Socrates  was  the  first  who  brought  down  philosophy  from 
heaven,  introducing  it  into  the  abodes  of  men,  and  compelling 
them  to  study  the  science  of  life,  of  human  morals,  and  the  effects 
of  things  good  and  bad. 


602  CICERO,  A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 

Tusculanae  "Vitam   regit  fortuna,   non  sapientia."     v,   9. 

tl0„es  It  is  fortune,  not  wisdom,  that  rules  the  life  of  man. 

Unde  igitur  ordiri  rectius  possumus  quam  a  communi 
parente  natura?  quae  quicquid  genuit,  ....  in  suo  quid- 
que  genere  perfectum  esse  voluit.    V,  13. 

How  then  can  we  be  more  fitly  ordered  than  by  our  common 
mother  Nature,  whose  aim  has  been  that  whatsoever  she  produced 
should  be  perfect  after  its  kind? 

Accipere  quam  facere  injuriam  praestat.     V,  19. 
It  is  far  better  to  receive  than  to  do  an  injury. 

Suum  cuique  pulchrum  est.     V,  22. 
His  own  is  beautiful  to  each. 

Suum  cuique.     V,  22. 
To  every  one  his  own. 

Adhuc  neminem  cognovi  poetam  ....  qui  sibi  non  opti- 
mus  videretur.    Sic  se  res  habet;  te  tua,  me  delectant  mea. 

v,  22. 

I  have  never  yet  known  a  poet  who  did  not  think  himself  the 
greatest  in  the  world.  That  is  the  way  of  things ;  you  take  delight 
in  your  works,  I  in  mine. 

Ipsa  cogitatio  de  vi  et  natura  deorum,  studium  incendit 
illius  aeternitatis  imitandae.     V,  25. 

The  very  meditating  on  the  power  and  nature  of  God  excites 
the  desire  to  imitate  that  eternal  Being. 

Ne  mente  quidem  recte  uti  possumus,  multo  cibo  etpotione 
completi.     V,  35. 

We  cannot  use  the  mind  aright,  when  the  body  is  filled  with 
excess  of  food  and  drink. 

"Haec  habeo,  quae  edi,  quaeque  exsaturata  libido 
Hausit:  at  ilia  jacent  multa  et  praeclara  relicta." 
(Epitaph  on  Sardanapalus.)     V,  35. 
What  I  have  eaten  is  mine,  and  all  my  satisfied  desires;  but  I  leave 
behind  me  all  those  splendid  joys  which  I  have  not  tasted. 


TUSCULANAE  DISPUTATIONES  603 

Quid  est  enim  dulcius  otio  literato?    V,  36.  Tusculanae 

What  is  more  delightful  than  lettered  ease?  Duputa- 

°  ttones. 

"Patria  est  ubicumque  est  bene." 
Socrates  quidem  cum  rogaretur,  cujatem  se  esse  diceret, 
Mundanum,  inquit.     Totius  enim  mundi  se  incolam,  et 
civem  arbitrabatur.    v,  37. 

Our  country  is  wherever  we  find  ourselves  to  be  happy. 

When  Socrates  was  asked  to  what  country  he  belonged,  he  said 
that  he  was  a  citizen  of  the  world.  For  he  thought  himself  an 
inhabitant  and  citizen  of  the  whole  universe. 

Humanus  autem  animus  decerptus  ex  divina  mente,  cum 
alio  nullo  nisi  cum  ipso  deo,  si  hoc  fas  est  dictu,  comparari 
potest,    v,  38. 

The  human  soul,  being  an  offshoot  of  the  divine  mind,  can  be 
compared  with  nothing  else,  if  it  be  not  irrelevant  to  say  so,  than 
with  God  himself. 

Loquor  enim  de  docto  homine  et  erudito,  cui  vivere  est 
cogitare.     V,  38. 

I  speak  of  a  man  of  learning  and  erudition,  to  whom  to  live  is  to 
think. 

Qui  secum  loqui  poterit,  sermonem  alterius  non  requiret. 
v,  40. 

He  who  can  commune  with  himself  does  not  seek  for  speech  with 
others. 

Mihi  quidem  in  vita,  servanda  videtur  ilia  lex,  quae  in 
Graecorum  conviviis  obtinetur:  "Aut  bibat,"  inquit,  "aut 
abeat."     V,  40. 

In  life  we  ought,  in  my  opinion,  to  observe  that  rule,  which  pre- 
vails in  the  banquets  of  the  Greeks:  "Let  him  either  drink  or 
depart." 


INDEX 


Abeken,  455. 

Academica,  14,  32(11.20),  37,  53,  55,  58f., 
378-81,  422. 

Academica,  selections  from,  459-461. 

Academicians,  36,  51,  53f.,  57,  330,  367, 
387.  398fT.,  403,  4051.,  5781.  See  also 
undernames  of  Stoic  writers. 

Academy,  the,  soff.,  S7ff.,  68,  383,  443. 
See  also  under  names  of  Stoic  writers. 

Achaia,  made  Roman  province,  27. 

Acta:  diurna  populi  Romani;  senatus 
et  populi.  See  Rome,  s.  v.  publication 
of  news  in;  senate  of. 

Ad  Atticum,  56,  69,  72(n.7>,  n8(n.89), 
I57ff.,  i6i(n.2i),  ii9(n.9)f.,  i93ff., 
196,  198,  20o(n.28)f.,  204ff.,  209ff., 
2i5(n.66),  22of.,  223ff.,  24iff.,  245, 
2S3ff.,  256ff.,  26o(n.7o)f.,  267ff.,  276ff., 
279,  282f.,  286ff.,  331,  334(n.i9f.), 
354.  374,  378ff.,  384,  391,  398,  4'3ff., 
423,   426,  428f.,  45 1  (n. 20). 

Ad  Atticum,  selections  from,  461-463. 

Ad  Brut.,  280,  302,  304(n.77),  306,  31  if., 
317- 

Ad  Brutum  Orator,  selections  from,  557- 
559- 

Ad  Cornelium  Nepotem,  selections  from, 
463- 

Ad  Fain.,  52(^14),  69,  202(n.33),  215, 
217,  220,  222f.,  241  (n. 21),  244,  246ft., 
2K6,  278,  281,  284(n.5o),  301,  304(n. 
7<5)f.,  3og(n.9o),  311,  352,  398^.27), 
4i4(n.9),  420,  422,  424,  440;  to  Ba- 
silius,  249,  266;  to  Brutus,  253;  to 
Caelius  Rufus,  408;  to  Caesar,  219;  to 
Cassius,  267;  to  Curio,  149(^39);  to 
Curius,  262;  to  Dolabella,  279;  to  Lepi- 
dus,  300;  to  Ligarius,  250;  to  Marius, 
23off. ;  to  Paetus,  17;  to  Plancius,  231, 
243,  318;  to  Plancus,  300;  to  Servius 
Sulpicius,  248;  to  Sestius,  196;  to  Sul- 
picius  Rufus,  25 if.;  to  Terentia,  204ff., 
229,  240;  to  Tiro,  47(n.3),  159(11.16), 
421,  426;  to  Titus  Titius,  252;  to  Tre- 
batius,  353;  to  Trebonius,  426;.  to 
Varro,  231,   242,   378;   to   Volumnius, 

'7- 
Ad  Familiares,  selections  from,  463-470. 
Ad   Marcum   Brutum    Orator,   53(n.i6), 

9o(n.9),  259,  388ff.,  348ft. 
Ad  Quintum  Fratrem,  74,  206,  219,  363 

(n.20),   423,   425,    435.     See  also  De 

Oratore. 
Ad   Quintum  Fratrem,   selections  from, 

470-471. 
Ad  Quirites,  211,  471. 
Ad  Trebat.     See  Topica  ad  C.  Trebat. 
Aelius,  49. 
Aeschines,  350ft.. 
Aeschylus  of  Cnidos,  68. 
Afranius,  197,  233. 
Africanus.     See  Scipio  Africanus. 
Agrippa,  4200.24). 
Agrippina.     See  Agrippa. 


Ahenobarbus,  Domitius,  50,  151,  225, 
295.  See  also  Cicero,  s.  v.  Portia, 
funeral  oration  for. 

Alcuin,  Cicero  included  by,  in  famous 
library,  448. 

Alexander,  428f.;  effects  of  conquests 
of,  28. 

Allen  and  Greenough,  134(^13). 

Allobroges,  conspiracy  with.  See  Cati- 
line. 

Ambrose,  67 ;  De  Officiis  Ministrorum  of, 
9;  De  Tobia  of,  9. 

Annates  Maximi,  4iof.     See  also  Rome. 

Antiochus  of  Askalon,  53f.,  56ff.,  67f., 
378,  383;  Acad.  Pr.  of,  57(n.28). 

Antipater,  36,  37;  influence  of,  on  De 
Officiis,  373,  376. 

Antisthenes,  399. 

Antistius,  86. 

Antonines,  44. 

Antonius,  Caius  (colleague  of  Cicero), 
84f.,  164ft.,  325,  333f.,  345,  433;  called 
Teukris,    196. 

Antonius,  Marcus,  25,  50,  81,  243,  418; 
Atticus,  relation  of,  to,  41  gf. ;  career 
of,  270ft.;  consulship  of,  225,  271;  de- 
feat of,  at  Mutina,  302 ;  imperial  ambi- 
tion of,  27of.,  275,  284ff.,  437f. ;  Milo, 
trial  of,  relation  to,  of,  151;  mother 
of,  291;  Octavius,  league  with,  of, 
309ft. ;  proscription  of,  203ft.;  wife  of, 
291 ; 

—  Caesar,  crowning  of,  by,  263;  funeral 
oration  for,  of,  272^;  service  under, 
of,.  235; 

—  Cicero,  orations  of,  against,  28of., 
288ff. ;  proposed  embassy  of,  to,  2g8f. ; 
relation  of,  to,  194,  229,  267,  436.  See 
also  Caesar,  Cicero,  Octavius,  Philip- 
pica. 

Ap.  Ascon.  in  Cornel.,  ioi(n. 42). 

Appelicon,  library  of.     See  Aristotle. 

Appian,  B.  C.  of,  no(n.62),  ii2(n.7i, 
73),  H5(n.82),  n8(n.89),  i2o(n.95), 
i2i(n.97f.),  i22(n.io2),  i96(n.22), 
I99(n.26),  209,  26if.,  268,  273(n.7), 
274(n.g),  276(n.i2),  284,  291  (n. 44), 
298(^58),  439;  Mith.  of,  197(^23). 
See  also  Cicero,  s.  v.  literary  detain- 
ers of. 

Appius,  101,  339. 

Aquilius,  C,   125. 

Aquilius,  Manius,  78. 

Arati  Phaenomena.  See  Cicero,  s.  v. 
poetical   works  of. 

Arati  Prognostica.  See  Cicero,  5.  v. 
poetical  works  of. 

Aratus,  7.  See  also  Cicero,  s.  v.  poetical 
works  of;  De  Nat.  Deor. 

Arcesilaus,  53f.,  s8ff.,   367. 

Archias:  defense  of,  i47f. ;  teacher  of 
Cicero,   49,   70.     See  also  Pro  Archia. 

Aristo  of  Chios,  386,  394. 

Aristotle,  399,  418,  443,  448;  civic  basis 
of  theories  of,  28;  De  Finibus,  speaker 
in,  381;  definition  of,  of  city-state,  23; 


605 


6o6 


INDEX 


Ethics  of,  371;  harmonizer  of  idealism 
with  experience,  27;  Peri  Basileias,  of, 
428L ;  Peripatetic  school,  founder  of, 
S2f. ;  philosophy,  Greek,  supreme  ex- 
ponent of,  26;  political  science,  found- 
er of,  371 ; Politics  of,  21(11.1),  23(n. 
3),  371;  Sulpicius,  influence  on,  of, 
74(n.io);  Topics  of,  352; 

—  Cicero:  influence  on,  of,  328,  344, 
366;  tribute  of,  to,  59,  332; 

—  works  of:  library  of,  brought  to  Rome 
by  Faustus,  332;  seized  in  library  of 
Appelicon,  118.  See  also  Greece,  s.v. 
literature  of. 

Aristippus,  386. 

Aristophanes,  351. 

Arnim,    Hans    von,     30,    3i(n.i7),    403 
.   (n.38). 

Arnold,  8,  3of.,  35^.27),  37(n.36),  39, 
S3.  58(11.30),  64,  72(n.7),  372,  374, 
39S(n.24),  4oo(n.3i),  429(0.8). 

Arx,  267. 

Asconius,  80,  151,  i56(n.6),  165;  Ad 
Cic.  Niel.  Arg.  of,  76(n.i4);  Ad  Orat. 
in  Tog.  Cand.  of,  427L ;  In  Corn., 
i2o(n.95);  pseudo-,   144(^28). 

Asverus,   97(n.3i). 

Athens:  described  by  Paul,  56;  repub- 
lican example  of,  272;  visit  of  Cic.  to, 
56;  seat  of  Academy,  57. 

Atia,  mother  of  Octavius.  See  Octavius 
Caesar. 

Attic  style.     See  Demosthenes. 

Atticus,  friendship  of  Cicero  and,  67,  71, 
150,  163,  207,  244,  252,  259,  363ft., 
395,  412,  413ft;  history  of,  from  letters 
of  Cicero,  415-20;  library  of,  at  Ath- 
ens, 416.    See  also  Ad  Atticum. 

Atticus,  Qu.  Caec.  Pom.,  206 (n. 46). 

Augustine:  Cicero  compared  to,  313; 
Commentary  on  the  Psalms  by,  355; 
Confessions  of,  iof.,  379;  Contra  Acad- 
emicos  of,  11;  De  Civitate  Dei  of,  1  if., 
358f.,  429;  De  Magistro  of  11;  Julian, 
Pelag.  of,  427^;  preservation  of  De 
Republica  by,  355,  358;  Roman  great- 
ness, interest  in,  of,  24;  Soliloquies  of, 
1 1 ;  Stoic  influences  on,  67.  See  also 
Christianity;    Stoicism. 

Augustus.    See  Octavius  Caesar. 

Aurelius,  Marcus,  33(n.22),  45. 

Ayala,  44. 

B 

Bagehot,  Walter,  240. 

Baiter  and  Kayser,   i8(n.24),  344(11.38). 

Balbus,  241,  245,  391,  399,  420. 

Balbus,    Cornelius,    79.      See    also    Pro 

(Cornelio)  Balbo. 
Balbus,  Lucilius,  40. 
Baroni,  E.,   H4(n.8i). 
Basil,  57. 
Beier,  373. 
Bell.  Hisp.,  255. 
Bernabei,   no(n.64). 
Bibulus,  257. 
Block,  qi  (n.13). 
Blossius  of  Cumae,  37. 
Boethius,  448. 
Boni,  273. 
Boissier,  171  (n. 36),  208,  246(^35), 254f., 

258,  409,  4ii(n.6),  454f. 
Bona  Dea  scandal,  isof.,  191.     See  also 

Clodius. 
Botsford,  G.  W.,  184. 
Brown,  20. 


Brutus  de  Claris  Oratoribus,  14,  18,  40 
(11.46,48),  54,  68,  74,  79(n.23),  8iff., 
86,  inff.,  131,  i55(n.4),  259,  323, 
345fr.,  389,  395,  434.  See  also  Brutus, 
Marcus  Junius. 

Brutus  de  Claris  Oratoribus,  selections 
from,  471-472. 

Brutus,  Decimus,  234,  264,  272,  274,  278, 
285,  287f.,  290,  293f.,  299L,  304,  308, 
311,  438,  440. 

Brutus,  Marcus  Junius,  307ff.,  31  if., 
379,  429;  address  to,  in  Paradoxa, 
389;  Antony,  struggle  against,  of, 
295 ff. ;  Atticus,  relation  to,  of,  41  gf. ; 
career  of,  256ft. ;  Claudia,  divorce 
from,  of,  256;  defeat  of,  at  Philippi, 
296(^54);  Epis.  of,  259;  flight  of, 
275;  "Hamlet  of  Roman  politics";  On 
Virtue  of,  259;  oratorship  of,  446; 
Portia,  wife  of,  40,  2  56f.,  429;  repub- 
lican conspiracy,  leadership  in,  of,  263; 
Servilia,  mother  of,  256,  277;  sister 
of,  420; 

—  Caesar;  correspondence  with,  of,  259; 
relation  to,  of,  257,  26of. ; 

—  Cicero:  relations  with,  of,  18,  256, 
258,  277,  302;  treatises  of,  dedicated 
to,  40,  380.  See  also  Ad  Brutum; 
Brutus  De  Claris  Oratoribus. 

Bryce,  26(n.io),  9o(n.n),  103,  106,  166 
(n.27). 

Budinger,   Max,  247(11.370. 

Burke,  Edmund.  See  Cicero,  s.  v.  ora- 
tions of;  Verres. 

Burckhardt,  73 (n. 9). 


Caecilius,  1 4 1  ff. ,  416.  See  also  Atticus, 
s.  y.  uncle  of. 

Caelius,  222,  411,  412. 

Caerellia.  See  Cicero,  s.  v.  literary  de- 
fame rs  of. 

Caesar,  Caius  Julius:  Anticato  of,  244f., 
256,  353,  428;  assassination  of,  265ft. ; 
Catiline,  judgment  against,  of,  183ft. ; 
Commentarii  de  Bella  Gallico,  of,  218, 
295 (n. 91);  Dicta  Collectcana,  of,  246; 
dictatorship  of,  150,  i88ff.,  235,  262; 
daughter  of  (Julia),  223;  entry  of, 
into  Rome,  225;  "essay  of  advice,"  of 
Cicero,  to,  4281. ;  founder  of  Roman 
journalism,  245;  founder  of  imperial 
system,  234;  imperatorship  of,  235f. ; 
kingship  conferred  on,  263;  Marius, 
relation  to,  of,  118;  political  career  of, 
165,  i7iff.;  Pontifex  Maximus,  214; 
praetorship  of,  148,  191;  reforms  of, 
239;  ruler  of  Roman  world,  149;  skep- 
ticism of,  404;  succession  of,  270,  284; 
Sulla,  pardoned  by,  119;  triumphs  of, 
234;  type  of  military  chieftainship, 
43 1 ; . 

— 'Cicero,  relation  to,  of,  155,  162, 
165,  195,  219,  228,  242,  247ft.,  254, 
26of. ;  449;  tribute  to  literary  skill  of, 
by,  17,  327; 

—  conquests  of:  Africa,  233;  of  Egypt, 
197.  233;  of  Gaul,  214,  217;  of  Ger- 
many, 197;  of  Pharnaces,  197,  233; 
of  Spain,  196,  234f.,  252; 

—  wife  of  Caes. :  Calpurnia,  271;  Pom- 
peia,   igif.,  434! 

—  enthusiasm  for,  after  his  death,  308ft.; 
of  modern  world,  440.  See  Pro  Liga- 
rio;  Pro  Rege  Deiotaro;  Rome. 


INDEX 


607 


Caesar,  Caius  Julius,  father  of  Julius 
Caesar,  114;  grandfather  of  Julius 
Caesar,  114. 

Caesar,   Lucius,  298(11.51),  310. 

Caesar,  Octavius.     See  Octavius  Caesar. 

Caius,   94(11.24). 

Calenus,  Fufius,  290,  293,  294,  297f.  See 
Cicero,  J.  v.  literary  defamers  of. 

Callegari,  112. 

Calpurnia,  wife  of  Caesar.     See  Caesar. 

Calvus,  Athenodorus,  60,  374,  446. 

Camillus,  24. 

Campus  Martius,   i66f.,  176,  283,  438. 

Caninius  Rebilus,  262. 

Cantalupi,  120(11.96). 

Carbo,  Cn.,  84,  86,  347. 

Carlyle,  14. 

Carthage,  Roman  colony  at,  112. 

Carneades,  36,  53(n.i6),  S4f.,  57.  60, 
358,  367.  402(n.36),  404. 

Casca,  288,  307,  418. 

Cassius,  256,  258,  263ft.,  274,  277f.,  298, 
309,  3i2f.,  332,  44s ;  wife  of,  420. 

Cassius,  Qu.,  consulship  of,  225. 

Cassius  Barba,  261. 

Catiline,  Lucius  Sergius:  alliance  with 
Sulla,  118;  career  of,  I73ff. ;  charge 
of  desecration  against,  156,  166,  173; 
Cicero,  opponent  of,  in  consular  cam- 
paign, i64f. ;  death  of,  186;  intrigue 
of,  with  Allobroges,  i8off. ; 

—  conspiracy  of,  174ft.,  432f.,  454;  rec- 
ords of,  from  orations  of  Cicero,  178, 
414; 

—  fellow-conspirators  of,  176ft.,  180; 
execution  of,  192.  See  also  In  Catili- 
nam;  Cicero. 

Cato,  244,  260,  348. 

Cato  Censor.    See  Cato  Maior. 

Cato,  L.  Porcius,  83. 

Cato,  M.  Portius  (Maior) :  M.  Portius, 
40,  48,  58,  60,  202,  230L,  244,  25sff., 
347,  356,  376,  381-3.  428,  454J  death 
Of,  233f. ;  De  Senec,  dedicated  to, 
39iff. ;  Origines  of,  324L ;  Roman  lit- 
erature, place  in,  of,  325.  See  also 
Caesar,  Julius,  j.  v.  Anticatq  of;  s.  v. 
funeral  oration  of,   on  Portia. 

Cato  Maior,  De  Senectute.  See  De  Sen- 
ectute. 

Catulus,  85,  161,  193,  213,  333L,  381. 

Celer,   197ft. 

Censorinus,  86. 

Chaerea,  C.  Fannius.  See  Pro  Rose. 
Com. 

Chaeronea,  battle  of,  27. 

Charmidas,  53. 

Christianity:  relation  of  Cicero  to  early, 
7ft.,  67,  406,  430,  447L  See  also  Sto- 
icism. 

Chrysippus,  43,  6of.,  366,  387,  403; 
406;  Apud  Diogenes  Laertes,  of,  33 
(n.23),  34L ;  Apud  Pint  de  Stoic,  Rep. 
of,  34L ;  fellow-countryman  of  St. 
Paul,  7;  on  common  law  as  "right 
reason,"  33,  63;  second  founder  of 
Stoic  school,  32,  38. 

Chrysogonus.     See  Roscius,   S. 

Lucius  (cousin  of  M.  Tullius),  s6f.,  143, 
383- 

Cicero,  Marcus  (father  of  M.  Tullius), 
46,  74.  325. 

Cicero,  Marcus  (grandfather  of  M.  Tul- 
lius), 46,  325. 

Cicero,  Marcus  Tullius:  ancestry  of,  47; 
aedileship    of,    141,    156,    413;    augur- 


ship  of,  217;  birthplace  of,  430;  class 
relationships  of,  155,  432;  city  life, 
fondness  of,  for,  408ft.;  criminal  cases 
of  (catalogued),  131;  literary  defan>__ 
ers  of,  45 iff.;  marriage,  of  to  Put> 
lilia,  244,  252;  modern  world,  relation 
to,  of,  iff.;  mother  of,  47,  50,  422; 
Portia,  funeral  oration  on,  of,  429; 
praetorship  of,  i55f.,  161,  413;  "prime 
minister  of  Rome,"  292,  439;  profes- 
sional income  of,  8off.,  158,  244;  pro- 
scription of,  by  Octavius,  31  off. ;  quaes- 
torship,  141,  155,  413;  quattuor 
virate,  proposed  as  member  of,  198; 
reflector  of  great  political  transi- 
tion, 16;  Renaissance,  influence  on, 
of,  448f . ;  republic,  last  defender  of, 
240,  265ft.,  275,  278,  288ff.,  352,  431, 
436ft.,  441ft. ;  Senate,  leadership  in,  of, 
437;  sister  of,  417;  uncle  of,  206; 
visit  of,  to  Asia,  67ft. ;  visit  of,  to 
Greece,  56ft. ;  wit  of,  17L,  339ff. ; 

—  assassination  of,  314ft.,  4361.;  indigni- 
ties after,  to,  3151. ; 

—  career  of:  as  statesman,  432ft. ;  end  of 
professional,  25  if.,  260;  forensic, 
432L ;  in  epochal  time  of  Rome,  iff., 
430,  445;  intellectual,  407  (n.46), 
44i; 

—  consulship  of,  155,  167,  414;  commen- 
tary of,  lost,  on  his  consulship,  428;  in 
Asia,  205f.,  207,  212;  in  Cilicia,  i86ff.; 
in   Sicily,   141ft.; 

—  daughter  of  (Tullia),  205ft.,  229,  240, 
330;  death  of,  252ft.,  384; 

—  exile  of,  202ff.,  435;  recall  from, 
207ft.,  436; 

—  fame  of,   iff.;  reaction  against,  449; 

—  homes  of,  4i3f. ;  at  Arpinum,  46L, 
363ft. ;  at  Formiae,  228,  314;  at  Rhe- 
gium,  278,  352f. ;  at  Tusculum,  157L, 
344;  on  the  Palatine.  56,  8off.,  158, 
195.  344; 

—  letters  of,  4,  312,  321,  412-26;  auto- 
biography in,  445  f. ;  last  written,  418, 
445; 

— 'orations  of:  influence  on  public  opin- 
ion, 2;  last  written,  302;  permanent 
models  of  forensic  eloquence,  3; 

—  precepts  of:  on  civil  law,  366;  on 
immortality,  36  iff.,  384;  on  moral 
law,  365ft-,  374-7.  383.  385ft-,  389,  392; 
on  philosophy,  345,  378-407,  443;  on 
suffering,  386;  on  suicide,  382;  on  the 
theater,  359;  on  theism,  6,  361ft., 
367-8,   402,   443*-.  447;   on  wit,   337ft-; 

—  wife  of  (Terentia),  156,  192,  195; 
220,  222,  229,  24of.,  242f.,  3i8f.,  417, 
419,  434;   divorce  of,  242L ;   318L ; 

—  works  of:  failure  of  posterity  to  col- 
lect, 14,  82;  on  rhetoric,  32 iff.;  on 
philosophy  and_  theology,  321;  on 
science  and  politics,  320ft. ;  poetical, 
428-9; 

■ — 'youth  of,  46ft.,  322L ;  during  Italian 
war,  83ft. ;  studies  of,  324ft;.,  431;  as- 
sumption of,  of  toga  z'irilis  in  the 
Forum,  70ft.  See  also  Plutarch;  Stoi- 
cism; Tiro;  under  various  titles  of. 

Cicero,  Marcus  (son  of  M.  Tullius),  157, 

220,  295,  297,  3i7f.,  33of.,  373,  422. 
Cicero,  Quintus  (brother  of  M.  Tullius), 

46ft.,  561.,  74,  148,   158,  163,  218,  220, 

221,  241,  325f-,  343.  363ft-.  383,  4°2f., 
417,  42if.,  424;  Quintus  (nephew  of 
M.  Tullius),   159,  220,  314,  4i7- 


6o8 


INDEX 


Ciceronians.  See  Cicero,  s.  v.  republic, 
last  defense  of,  by. 

Cimber,  274. 

Cinna,  ii7f.,  274,  322,  328. 

Cinna,  Helvius  (tribune),  274. 

City-state,  denned  by  Aristotle,  23; 

—  Roman :  absorption  of,  in  nationality, 
2J3;  form  of,  a  democracy,  104;  evolu- 
tion of,  87ff. ;  extension  of  law  of  over 
world-empire,  4if.,  107,  124;  in  civil 
war,  116;  submergence  of,  in  nation- 
ality, 268.  See  also  Rome,  constitu- 
tion of. 

Clark,   95(n.2s),   97f.(n.33>. 

Claudia,  wife  of  Brutus.     See  Brutus. 

Claudius,  Appius,  151,  193,  221,  257. 

Cleanthes,  32. 

Cleitomachus,  402(0.36). 

Clemens,  8. 

Clitomarchus,   54. 

Clodia.     See  Clodius. 

Clodius,  Pub.,  77,  173,  200,  213,  389ff., 
434;  murder  of,  219;  prosecution  of 
Cic,  by,  20 iff.;  sister  of  Clodius,  192; 
trial  of,  icjiff.  See  also  Cicero,  exile 
of;  Pro  Milone. 

Clodius,  Sextus,  276. 

Collins,  67(n.48). 

Commentariis  rerum  urbanum,  408. 

Comitia:  calata,  94(n.24);  centuriata, 
93f.,  100,  167;  curiata,  9off. 

Conficius,   164. 

Consolatio,  seu  de  Luctu  minuendo,  254, 
384f- 

Constitution,  Roman.     See  Rome. 

Conybeare  and  Howson,  7,  57(n.27),  430 
(n.14). 

Corn-laws,  Roman.  See  Rome,  s.  v. 
laws  of. 

Cornelius  (tribune).     See  lex  Calpurnia. 

Cornutus,  33(n.22). 

Cossinius,  428. 

Cotta,  Aurelius,  323,  326,  334,  345,  3980"., 
446;   family  of,    114. 

Cotta,  Caius,  81,  84. 

Cotta,  Lucius,  342. 

Cotta,  Publius,  343. 

Crantor,  386. 

Crassus,  Roman  millionaire.  80,  158. 

Crassus,  Licinius,  sof.,  84,  86,  32sf. 

Crassus,  Lucius,  161,  192,  323,  333L, 
389,  427,  444;  Caesar,  ally  of,  165, 
171L,  196;  Cicero,  relation  to,  164, 
193L ;  consulship  of,  2i7ff. ;  death  of, 
219;  skepticism  of,  404;  Sulla,  ally 
of,    118. 

Crassus,   Marcus,   340L 

Crassus,  Publius  (son  of  Lucius),  217. 

Crates,  36,  53. 

Critolaus,  36. 

Crossley,   Hastings,    38. 

Ctesiphon.     See  Demosthenes. 

Cuq,  91  (n.14). 

Curia,  88ff. 

Curia  Hostilia,  58. 

Curio,  Caius,  84,  86,  224,  346,  412,  421. 

Curius,  Quintus,  175. 

Cursus  honorum,  156. 

Cytheris,  245L 

Cyrenaics,  386. 

D 

Damasippus,  117,  343. 

Daremberg    and    Saglio,    4o8(n.2),    246 

_  (n-34)- 

Dareste,  Rudolph,  2i(n.i). 


Davidson,   Strachan-,   292. 

De  Amicitia,   14,  37,  38,  60,  70,  394-97, 

444-   . 
De  Amicitia,  selections  from,  472-478. 
De  Claris  Oratoribus.     See  Brutus. 
De  Consiliis  suis,  427L 
De  Divinatione,  8,  14,  36(^34),  60,  69, 

385,  402-5,  407(n.46),  428f.,  444. 
De  Divinatione,  selections  from,  478-482. 
De  Fato,  60,  405-7,  444. 
De  Finibus,  4,  14,  29(n.i4),  32,  37(n.37), 

40,    53,    58,   60,    326(n.8),    380-84,    398 

(n.27),  429,  4431.,  457(n.2o). 
De  Finibus,  selections  from,  482-485. 
De  Gloria,  407(^46),  4i7(n.i8). 
De  Harusp.  Res.,  2i2(n.62),  214. 
De     Haruspicum     Responsis,     selections 

from,  486. 
De  Imp.  Cn.  Pomp.,  i6o(n.i9). 
De  Imperio  Cn.  Pompeii,  selections  from, 

486. 
De  Inventione  Rhetorica,  327ft.,  330,  448. 
Deiotarus,  orations  of  Brutus  and  Cicero 

for,  260. 
De  Jure  Civili  et  Legibus.     See  De  Lcgi- 

bus,  s.  v.  title  of. 
De  Lege  Agraria,  93(n.2i)f.,  no(n.62), 

169. 
De  Lege  Agraria,   selections  from,   487. 
De    Legibus,    14,    19,    33,    61,    67(n.48), 

72(n.4),89(n.8),  ioo(n.38),  u8(n.89), 

i2o(n.93),       363ff.,       369(11.31).       417 

(n.14),  442. 
De  Legibus,  selections  from,  487-492. 
Demetrius,  383. 
Demetrius  of  Syria,  67L 
Demosthenes,  2i(n.i),  280,  286;  Cicero, 

compared  to,   550;   Cicero,   tribute  of, 

to,  349ff. 
De  Natura  Deorum,  8,   14,   40,   53L,  60, 

64,  69,   86,    117(0.88),   393(11.22),  397- 

407,   42g(n.8),  444. 
De  Natura  Deorum,  selections  from,  493- 

498. 
De  Officiis,  4,  9,  14,  26(n.io),  3i(n.i7), 

39,  42,  43(n.53).  6of.,  263(n.8o),  370, 

407^.46),   427. 
De  Officiis,  selections  from,  498-522. 
De  Optima  Genere  Oratorum,  35 if. 
De   Oratore,    1,    14,    46(n.i),    51,    71,    73 

(n.8),    78(n.i9),    85(0.32),    ii5(n.82), 

323f.,   327.   329,   331.   333.   335ff-.   354. 

395(n.24a),  442. 
De  Oratore,  selections  from,  522-530. 
De  Partitione  Oratorio  Dialogus,  33off. 
De  Partitione  Oratorio,  selections  from, 

530. 
De     Partitione     Consulatus,     selections 

from,  531. 
De  Philosophia.     See  Hortensius. 
De  Philosophia,  selections  from,  531. 
De    Provinciis   Consularibus,    m(n.68), 

216L 
De    Provinciis    Consularibus,    selections 

from,  531. 
De   Repubhca,    3,    4,    II,    12,    14,    19,    35 

(n.29),  37(n.36),  42L,  63,  87(n.2),  90 

(n.9),  92(0.16),  354ff.,  370,  442.     See 

also  De  Legibus. 
De    Republica,    selections    from,    531-537 

("Somnium        Scipionis,"        selections 

from,   537-539)- 
De  Senectute,   14,  60,   62,  64ff.,   391-94, 

444-  ,       . 

De  Senectute,  selections   from.    539-549. 
Digest.     See  Justinian,  s.  v.  Digest  of. 


INDEX 


609 


Diodorus  Siculus,   115(11.82). 

Diodotus;   teacher  of   Cicero,    551.,   373. 

Diogenes  Laertius,  32,  341.,  406. 

Diogenes  Stoicus,  2a(n.i3f.),  3if.,  36. 

Dion,  Cassius,  44,  80,  9o(n.9>,  92(n.i6, 
18),  94(n.24),  I22(n.i02),  iso(n.4o), 
152(^33),  i6o(n.2o),  169(^33),  189 
(n.3),  i99(n.26),20i(n.3i),236(n.9)f., 
239(n.i7),  262(n.77f.),  272(1.,  296 
(n.56),  298(^58),  307ff.,  318,  366.  See 
also  Cic,  s.  v.  literary  defamers  of. 

Dion,  Hal.,  97. 

Dionysius,  68,  88(n.3>,  97,  102  (n.45), 
220. 

Documents:  multiplication  of,  in  the 
ancient  world,  2. 

Dolabella,  228,  241,  252,  279,  294,  297ff., 
423- 

Drane,  Augusta  T.,  448. 

Drumann,  W.,  5o(n.9>,  I3s(n.i6f.),  168 
(n.29),  171  (n. 38).  See  also  Cicero, 
literary  defamers  of. 

Drusus,  Livius,   nsf.,   168,  333. 

Dumazeau,  Grellet-,  75(n.io),  77(n.i8), 
79(n.22),    I9s(n.i9). 

Dyer,  T.  n.,  8i(n.26),  4io(n.s). 

E 

Ecgbehrt,  King,  library  of.     See  Alcuin. 

Egypt.     See  Caesar,  5.  v.  conquests  of. 

Eleusis,  mysteries  of,  67. 

Emerson,   14. 

Empire,  Holy  Roman,  23.  See  also  Rome. 

Empiricus,  bextus,  53;  Pyrrohoniae  Hu- 
poptuposeis  of,  58(n.3i). 

Enc.  Brit.,  is6(n.s),  424(^36). 

Ennius,  71,  393,  396,  446;  Roman  let- 
ters, influence  on,  of,  323f. ;  Roman 
shorthand,   founder  of,  423. 

Eros,  steward  of  Cicero,  420. 

Ep.  ex  Pont.,  203. 

Epictetus,  33(n.22>. 

Epicureans,  18,  52f.,  326,  38of.,  386, 
398ff.,  446. 

Epicurus,  52,  386,   388. 

Epistola  de  Petitione  Consulatus,  163. 

Epistolae  ad  Brutum,  selections  from, 
549,  550. 

Eptstolarum  ad  Brutum  Liber.  See  Ad 
Brutum;  Cicero,  s.  v.  letters  of. 

Epistolarum  ad  Familiares,  or  Episto- 
larum  ad  Diversis  Libri  xvi.  See  Ad 
Fam;  Cicero,  j.  v.  letters  of. 

Epistulae,  407  (n.46).  See  also  Cicero, 
j.  v.  letters  of;  Rome,  .j.  v.  history  of. 

Erskine.     See   Roscius,   S. 

Erucius.      See    Roscius,    S. 

Erasmus,  406   (n.45). 

Ethics,  conception  of,  in  Greek  philoso- 
phy. 371-  See  also  Cicero,  s.  v.  moral 
justice. 

Euripedes:    Fr.  Aiol.  of,  204. 

Eusebius,  57   (n.28),  424. 

Eustochium,  letter  of  Jerome  to,  10. 

Evolution,  Stoic  doctrine  of.  See  Stoic- 
ism s.  v.  Cicero,  influence  on,  of. 


Faberius,  276. 

Fabia   (sister-in-law  of  Cicero),   156. 

Fabius  Maximus,  261. 

Fannius,  C,  38,  394ff. 

Fate:    Cicero's  doctrine  of.   See  De  Fato. 

Fausta,  wife  of  Milo,  150. 


Faustus,    son    of    Sulla,    332. 

Favonius,   277. 

Ferrero,  104(^55),  108,  no(n.64)  111, 
113(11.75),  ii4(n.8i),  ii9(n.92),  123, 
i64(n.24),  i7if.,  174ft.,  197(^23),  234 
(n.5),  246(n.34),  280,  288,  293,  296 
(n.56),  308  (n.88),  3io(n.93),  313, 
3i9»  370,  4o8(n.2). 

Festus,  47,   113(11.71). 

Fioretti,  97(n.3i). 

Flaccus,    112,   204,   295. 

Flavius,  C.   See  Pro.  Rose.  Com. 

Flamininus,  391. 

Forsyth,  151(11.41),  183,  3i8(n.io9),  455. 

Forum,  Roman,  3,  75!.,  9off.,  162,  166, 
283,  344;  place  of,  in  Roman  public 
life,  75,  438; 

—  Cicero:  first  appearance  of,  in,  i27ff. ; 
assumption  of  toga  virilis  by,  in,  70. 
See  also  Cicero;  Rome. 

Foster,  H.  B.  (translator  of  Dio  Cas- 
sius), 451(11.19). 

Fowler,  H.  N.,  64(^38),  373(^36). 

Fox.      See   Verres. 

Fragmenta,    i8(n.24),    344^.38). 

Fragmenta,  selections  from,  550. 

Freeman,  E.  A.,  87(n.2),  9i(n.i3),  99 
(n.36),  io5(n.56),   190,  455. 

Fronto,  218;  Exc.  Elocut.  of,  428. 

Froude,  109,  ii3f.,  234(^4),  23g(n.i6), 
24gf.,  268,  272,  284. 

Fulvia,  175,  178,  291,  3i5f. 

Fusius.    See  Milo,  Ann. 


Gabinius,  160,  189,  20off.,  214ft.    See  also 

Pro  Rab.  Post. 
Gaius,  Inst,  of,  44,  96(n.29),  ioi(n.44), 

io6(n.58). 
Galba,  78,  164,  347. 
Galeotto,    Italian    translator    of    Cicero, 

448-    „ 
Callus,  C.  Aquilius,  39,  243. 
Gardthausen,  455. 
Gaul.     See   Caesar,    s.   v.   conquests    of; 

won  as  Roman  province.    See  Marius; 

Caesar,  s.  v.  Com  de  B.  G. 
Gauter,  296(^55). 
Gellius,   Aulus,    so(n.n),   99(n.36),    102 

(n.45),        ii4(n.8o),        i2i(n.i),     158 

(n.n),  i95(n.2o),  321,  369,  421,  427L 
Germanic  invasion;   checked  by   Marius, 

115- 
Gibbon,   74. 

Gibbons    (Cardinal),    24. 
Gilbert,  J.,  88(n.3). 
Glabrio,  M.  Acilius.     See  Verres. 
Glaucia,  272. 
Goethe,   14. 

Gordis,  Warren  Stone,  445  (n.  11). 
Gracchus,    Caius,    272,    446;    career    of, 

1 1  iff. ;    judgeship,     disqualification    of 

senators  from,  by,  122,   128; 

—  Cicero:  influence  on,  of,  324;  tribute 
of,  to,  347; 

—  reforms  of,  112S.,  169;  undone  by 
Sulla,  122. 

Gracchus,_  Tiberius,  272,  347;  career  of, 
109ft. ;  inspiration  of,  from  Stoic  hu- 
manism, 37;  reforms  of,  37,  169;  un- 
done by  Sulla,  122. 

Gratidianus,    Marius,    173. 

Gratidius,  46(n.i). 

Greece:  culture  of,  indebtedness  of 
Cicero  to,  16,  155,  324,  327,  347,  349ff., 


6io 


INDEX 


43  J.  45o;  Macedonian  conquest  of, 
27ft.;  visit  of  Cicero  to,  in  youth,  383. 
See  also  Athens;  Cicero;  under  names 
of  Greek  writers. 

Gregory,    57. 

Grellet-Dumazeau,  75(11.12),  77(n.i8), 
79(n.22),   195(11.19). 

Greenidge,  A.  H.  J.,  72(n.4),  88(n.5), 
9o(n.io),  92(n.i9ff.),  ioo(n.37),  101 
(n.43),  io3(n.S4),  io6(n.s8),  120 
(n.94),  i23f.,  125(^3),  i27f.,  141 
(n.22),  i47(n.35),  i59(n.i7),  167 
(n.28),    i83f.,    236(n.7),   238f. 

Greenough,    Allen    and,    i34(n.i3). 

Grotius,   22,   44. 

H 

Hadrian,   57. 

Harbottle,    20. 

Hastings,   Warren.     See  Verres. 

Hecato,  373. 

Heineccius,  95(^25). 

Helvia.     See  Cicero,  .$.  v.  mother  of. 

Heraclitus,  33(n.22>. 

Hermann,   C.   F.,   452(n.2i). 

Herennius,  manual  of  rhetoric  addressed 

to,    327. 
Herennius,  assassin  of  Cicero,  313. 
Herzog,  3io(n.93),  455. 
Hesiod,  Theogony  of,  401. 
Hieronymus,    388. 
Hirtius,  245,  255,  290,  2g8f.,  301  f.,  406, 

428. 
History:      Cicero's    definition    of    scope 

of,  1. 

—  Roman.     See  Rome,  history  of. 
Hobbes,  on  "natural  man,"  371. 
Holland,  T.  E.,  33,  44,  371. 

Homer,  401;  Iliad,   74Cn.11),  224.     See 

also  Cicero,  s.  v.  poetical  works  of. 
Hooker,  369. 
Horace:    at    Philippi,    296;    early    career 

of,  296;   Odes  of,   47;   Satires  of,    76 

(n.14). 
Horatius,  trial   of,    100. 
Hortensius:    3,    iof.,    75,   79ff.,   157,   202, 

217,    296,    323,    343ff.,    379,    381,    444. 

449; 

—  attack  on,  in  Paradoxa,  389; 

—  death  of,  222; 

—  Cicero:  opponent  of;  in  criminal 
suits,  126,  141,  i44f.,  147;  in  plea  for 
Manilian  law,  161 ;  in  trial  of  Verres, 
432.     See  also  Verres. 

Howson  and  Conybeare,  7,  S7(n.27),  430 

(n.14). 
Huebner,  408 (n. 2),  452. 
Hysaeus,  PI.,   149. 


Janiculum,    172. 

Jerome:  Adversus  Rufinum  of,  10;  Stoic 
influence  on,  7ff.,  67; 

—  Cicero:  love  of,  made  reproach 
against,  10;  Oeconom.  of,  preserved 
by,  427.  See  also  Christianity;  Stoi- 
cism. 

Jerusalem,  capture  of,  by  Pompeius.  See 
Pompeius,  Cn.,  s.  v.  invasion  of  Pal- 
estine by. 

Jews,  Grecian,  7;  see  Pompeius,  Cn., 
j.  v.  invasion  of  Palestine  by. 

John  (Baptist).  See  Cicero,  s.  v.  pre- 
cepts of,  on  immortality. 

John,   C,   i75(n.46ff). 

Jordan,  9o(n.i2). 

Tors,  P.,  97(n.3o). 

Josephus,   i8g(n.3). 

Fulia,  daughter  of  Caesar.     See  Caesar. 

lulius,  Caius,  85,  345f.;  mother  of,   114. 

junomia,  112. 

Jurisprudence,  science  of,  a  Roman  in- 
vention, 446. 

Jus  Civile,  24,  4if.,  7if.,  103;  Cicero's 
definition  of,  336f.  See  also  Rome: 
constitution  of,   law  of. 

Jus  Gentium:  application  of,  by  Grotius 
to  modern  states,  22ff.,  44;  product  of 
comparative  law,  26f. ;  product  of 
Stoicism,  40,  43f. ;  world-law  sup- 
planting city  code,  15,  42,  103; 

—  Cicero:  definition  by,  of,  13,  4if.,  62f.; 
relation  of,  to  development  of,  23,  41, 
63.  See  also  Rome,  .y.  v.  constitution 
of;  law  of. 

Jus  naturale,  43f. 

Jus  strictum,  42. 

Justinian,  Digest  of,  21,  25  (n. 9),  72,  74, 

(n.io),    ioi(n.44ff.),    io3(n.5if.),    121 

(n.100),  i27f.(n.s); 
— >Inst.  of,  44(n.56);  schools,  closed  by, 

57(n.27),   326.     See   also   Pomponius, 

Ulpian. 
Juvenal,    191  (n. 8); 

—  Sat.   of,   210. 

K 

Kant,     on     Stoic     foundation    of    early 

Christianity,  9. 
Karlowa,   9i(n.i3). 
Kayser,   Baiter  and,   i8(n.24). 
Keller,  F.  L.,  125  (n.2). 
Kelsey,    F.    W.,    17. 
Kiene,  1  i6(n.84). 
Kriiger,  P.,   73(n.9). 
Kuhner,  402  (n. 36). 


In  Caecilium.     See  In  Verr. 

In  Catilinam.  76,   i77ff.,   180,   i84f.,  434. 

See  also  Catiline. 
In  Catilinam,  selections  from,  550-553. 
In  Pisonem,  76 (n.14),   187. 
In  Pisonem,  selections  from,  553-554. 
In   Vatinum,   132. 
In  Vatinium,  selections  from,  554. 
International  Public  Law,  23(n.3). 
In  Verr.,  77(n.i4,  17),  i2o(n.93),  I32ff., 

I4iff.,  145,   147,  448. 
In  Verrem,  selections  from,  554-556. 
Isocrates,  418,  450. 
Jsodorus,  Origines  of,  424. 


Labienus,  171,  233^,  264. 

Lactantius:      Consolatio     preserved     by, 

384;  De  Rep.,  fragment  of,  preserved 

by,  42,  63(n.36),  355,  358;  works  of,  8. 
Laelius,    37f.,    58,    354,    356,    359,    391, 

394ff. 
Laelius,  De  Amicitia.     See  De  Amicitia. 
Laenas,    Pompilius,    315. 
Lange,  Ludwig,  455. 
Lange,     R.    A.,     no(n.6i),     n6(n.83), 

120(11.96),    I45(n.3i),    i6s(n.25),    200 

(n.29),  213,  305(^78). 
Language,    Latin,    service    of   Cicero   to, 

326. 
Laterensis,  M.  Junius.    See  Pro  Plancio. 


INDEX 


611 


Law,  teaching  of,  in  Rome,  7off.  See 
also  Rome,  s.  v.  law  of. 

Leges  Liviae,  116. 

Leibnitz,  4o6(n.45). 

Lentulus,  86,  207,  224. 

Lepidus,  256,  267,  284,  291,  300,  302, 
304,  3o6ff.,  347;  interregnum  of,  150; 
role  of,  in  republican  conspiracy,  27 iff. 

Lex  Acilia,  77(n.i4>. 

Lex  Agraria  of  Rullus,  168. 

Lex  Aurelia,  145. 

Lex  Calpurnia,  96,  160,  165,  174. 

Lex  Ceuturiata,  93,  101. 

Lex   Cincia,   81. 

Lex  Cornelia,  209. 

Lex  Curiata,  93. 

Lex  Domitia,  122. 

Lex  Gabinia,  454. 

Lex  Hortensia,  ioi(n.44),  106. 

Lex  Licinia,   no. 

Lex  Muneralis.    See  Lex  Cincia. 

Lex  Plautia  Papiria,  116(11.85),  147. 

Lex  Pedia,  307. 

Lex  Manilia,   454. 

Lex  Setnpronia,  in(n.68). 

Lex  Valeria,   118,  183. 

Ligarius,  defense  of,  2Soff. 

Lightfoot,   5,   36. 

Literature:  Latin,  service  of  Cicero  to, 
398,  404,  446.  See  also  Greece,  s.  v. 
literature  of;  Rome,  s.  v.  language  of; 
literature  of. 

Livy:  Epit.  of,  25  (n. 8),  5o(n.8),  92 
(n.16),  iio(n.62),  ii2(n.69,  71),  116 
(n.83),  i22(n.io2>,  i89(n.3),  298 
(n.58);  N.  H.  of,  43(n.54),  89(n.7f.), 
95,  99,  102,  I03(n.54f.),  i2i(n.99), 
127,  20i(n.3o),  307;  Per.  of,  273(n.8), 
285(n.33),  29i(n.45),  296(^56). 

Longinus,  164. 

Lovatelli,  E.  Caetani,  246(^34). 

Lucilius:  poet  of  Roman  Stoics,  38, 
261.  _ 

Lucretius,  18.  326,  446. 

Lucullus,  i6if.,  189,  202,  326(n.8),  378, 
381,  389,  434,  444.     See  also  Archias. 

Lupus  of  Terriers,  448. 

Luther,  on  Stoic  foundations  of  early 
Christianity,    9. 

Lydus:    De  Alagister  of,  25(n.8). 

Lynden,  F.  Van,  373. 

Lysias,  351. 

M 

Maass,   E.,  429(n.8). 

Macaulay,  iJ8f- 

Macedonia,   Roman  province  of,    174. 

Macer,  C.  Licinius,  trial  of,  161. 

Macintosh,    Sir  James,   87(n.i),   356. 

Macrobius,  170,  230,  344(^38),  355,  369, 

428;  Saturnalia  of,  18. 
Madvig,      ii3(n.76),      i2i(n.ioi),      145 

(n.31). 
Maine,   Sir  Henry,   24(n.s),   39,  43,   44, 

77(n.is),  97(n-3i),  i28(n.7). 
Maitland,  Pollock  and,  2i(n.i). 
Mamurra,  261. 

Manilius,  189,  354;  Astron.  of,  424. 
Marcellus,    Marcus,    defense    of,    22 5L, 

250ft.,  255. 
Marcia,    mother    of    Caius    Julius.      See 

Julius  Caius. 
Marcian,   72. 
Marius,  Caius,  268,  272,  328,  389;  career 

of    ii3ff.,    155,    167;    Cicero   compared 


to,  432;  defeat  of,  85,  188,  432;  eulogy 
of,  by  Cicero,  216;  Gaul  won  as  Roman 
province,  by  Marius,  115;  massacre 
of,  117.     See  also  Sulla. 

Marius   (the  younger),   117. 

Marshall,  J.,   63. 

Martial:   Ep.    of,    79(n.2i),   424. 

Maximus,  Q.  Fabius,  340,  392. 

Memmius,  Lucius,  84,  345. 

Menippus   of  Stratonica,  68. 

Mernvale,  455. 

Mescinius,  421. 

Messala:  Apud  Gell.  of,  94(n.22);  Hor- 
tensius,  speech  of,  for,  79. 

Metellus,  114,  207;  Metellus  Celer, 
Quintus,  84;  Metellus,  Caecilius  Pius, 
172,  222L ;  Metellus  Scipio,  Caecilius, 
233.     See  also  Verres. 

Meyer,  no(n.63). 

Meyers,    n6(n.86). 

Military  organization,  Roman.  See  Rome. 

Miller,  Anna  Bertha,  445(^12). 

Milo,  Ann.,  80,  1491?.  See  also  Pro 
Milone. 

Minucius,   Felix,   7. 

Mirabeau,  113. 

Mithridates,  hailed  as  champion  of  Hel- 
lenic world,  by  Athenian  democracy, 
54.  See  also  Pompeius,  Cnaeus;  war, 
Mithridatic. 

Moecianus,   Volusius,  45. 

Molo  of  Rhodes,  68. 

Mommsen,  88(n.3,  4),  89(n.6),  91 
(n.i3f.),  ioo(n.37f.),  102(11.46),  106, 
no(n.62),  123,  127(11.5,9),  i29(n.n), 
i56(n.5),  i7i(n.38),  183,  235(n.6), 
237(n.i2),  250,  3io(n.93),  449.  See 
also  Cicero,  s.  v.  literary  defamers  of. 

Morabin,   372. 

Mueller,   C.   F.  W.,   i8(n.24),   344(11.3). 

Muirhead,  95(n.2s),  ioi(n.4o). 

Mummius,    37. 

Munda,  battle  of,  233,  255. 

Munatius,   340. 

Murena,  86,  i74ff.,  186.  See  also  Pro 
Murena. 

Murray,   Gilbert,  29(n.na),  33L 

Musca,  428. 

Mutina,  siege  of,  285,  293,  298f.,  302, 
438,  440. 

N 

Naevius,    325.     See    also    Quinctus,    P. 

Napoleon,    15,  435,  455. 

Nepos,  Cornelius,  413;   Vit.  Att.  of,  206 

(n.46),    4i6(n.i2f.)     4i7(n.i4f.),   419. 
Nepos,  Metellus,   i86f.,  341L 
Nepos,    Valerius,    151,    173L 
Nero,  338. 

Nettleship,   26(n.io),   43^.54). 
Neumann,   1x3(11.77),   n6(n.83). 
Newman,    Cardinal,    54,   319,   326f.,   333, 

367,  413,  446f. 
Niebuhr,   156,   169,   183,  407(^46). 
Nota  Tironianae.     See  Tiro. 
Numenius,  Pr.  Ev.  of,  57(n.28). 

O 

Octavianus.    See  Octavius  Caesar. 

Octavius,  Caesar,  18,  418;  Antony,  rela- 
tions with,  of,  282L,  307ft. ;  Atticus, 
relations  with,  of,  419L ;  career  of, 
283;  consulship  of,  307f ;  Monumentum 
Ancyranum  of,  286,  291  (n. 44);  mother 


6l2 


INDEX 


of,  270,  308;  sister  of,  308;  sons  of, 
234;  step-father  of,  292;  succession, 
imperial,  struggle  for,  of,  282ff.,  307fT. ; 

— Caesar:  adopted  by,  234,  270ft.,  307; 
heir  of,  261,   438; 

—  Cicero:  attitude  of,  to,  284ff.,  291; 
relations  with,  of,  281ft.,  286f.,  3i6f., 
342,  44of. ;  tribute  to,  of,  316.  See 
also  Antony;  Caesar;  Rome;  trium- 
virate. 

Octavius,    Gn.,    117. 

Occonomica  ex  Xenophonte.  See  Xeno- 
phon. 

Ofilius,  Aulus,  74,  295. 

Olivet,  Abbe  d',  20. 

Oppicianus.    See  Pro  Cluentio. 

Oppius,  418,  241,  245. 

Orationes  Antonianae.    See  Philippica. 

Orator,  selections  from,  557-559. 

Orelli,   427,   429. 

Orestinus    (tribune),    165. 

Origen,  8,  10. 

Ortolan,   96(n.28f.). 

Otho,  law  of,  160,  170. 

Overbeck,  i36(n.i9). 


Panaetms,  39,  51,  358,  366,  399;  De 
Officiis,  influence  of,  on,  372-77; 
Panaetius,  founder  of  Roman  Stoic- 
ism, 60,  64,  69f.,  395. 

Palestine.  See  Pompeius,  Cn.  s.  v.  in- 
vasion  of  Palestine  by. 

Pansa,  287,  290,  293ft.,  299,   302,  304. 

Pantaenus,  8. 

Pantheism,  5,  64. 

Paradoxa  Stoicorum,  4o(n.47),  60,  389- 
91,  444. 

Paradoxa,   selections   from,    559-562. 

Patres,    89ft. 

Paul  (of  Tarsus),  7,  360,  42g(n.48f.), 
448;  Athens,  description  of,  by,  56; 
Cicero  compared  to,  313;  Stoic  in- 
fluences on,  7f.  See  also  Christianity; 
Stoicism. 

Paul,  Herbert,  18,  279(n.i8). 

Paulius,  Aemilius,  310. 

Pedius,  Qu.,   270. 

Pelham,   H.   F.,   237(n.n). 

Peri  Hupateias,  69. 

Pericles,   303,  351. 

Peripatetics,  36,  52,  59,  380,  383,  386f., 
398ft.  See  also  Aristotle,  Critolaus, 
etc. 

Pernice,   98(n.34). 

Petrarch,  67;  collector  of  mss.  of  Cicero, 
4481. 

Phaedrus,  52(^14),  398. 

Phaenomena.    See  librati  Phaenomena. 

Pharsalia,  battle  of,   134,  230. 

Phidias,   tribute  of   Cicero  to,   349. 

Philhellene,  62. 

Phillipicae,  158(11.13),  263(^79),  280, 
316;  i.,  275,  437;  ii.,  2i7(n.69),  266, 
288ft.,  442,  451,  271,  279,  281,  285; 
iii.,  275,  284(^32),  288(n.4i),  290, 
370;  iv.,  434;  v.,  291,  439;  vi.,  292; 
vii.,  293.  300;  viii.,  294,  440;  ix.,  294; 
x.,  296(n.56f.),  306;  xi.,  279,  295,  298; 
xii.,  299;  xiii.,  300;   xiv.,  302ff. 

Philippicae,  selections  from,   562-569. 

Philippi,  battle  of.    See  Brutus. 

Philipius,  282. 

Philippus,  step-father  of  Octavius  Caesar, 
292,  333- 


Philo  of  Larissa,  52(n.i4f.),  56ft.,  378. 

Philosophy:  Greek,  Cicero's  relation  to, 
355ff->  447;  Roman,  relation  of  Cicero 
to,  446.  See  also  Stoicism;  under 
names    of    Greek    philosophers. 

Philotimus,  steward  of  Terentia,  243. 

Philus,   354,   358,   367. 

Phusis,  Stoic  doctrine  of.  See  Cicero, 
s.   v.    Stoicism,    influence   of,    on. 

Pinarius,  L.,  270. 

Piso,  L.,  200,  211,  214ft.,  271,  292,  297f., 
383- 

Piso,  Marcus,  57,  381. 

Piso,   T.,   209. 

Plancius,  Cnaeus,  205f.  See  also  Pro 
Plancio. 

Plancus,  158,  3oof.,  307^  See  also 
Milo. 

Plasberg,  Otto,  380. 

Plato,  365^,  382;  civic  basis  of  theories 
of,  28;  cosmogony  of,  in  De  Nat. 
Deqr.,  398ft'.;  Dialogues  of,  21  (n.  1); 
Epis.  of,  228;  founder  of  Academy, 
52f.,  57ft. ;  Greek  philosophy,  supreme 
exponent  of,  26;  ideal  of,  vitalized  by 
Cicero,  65ft.,  375f.,  447;  indebtedness 
of  Cicero  to,  354^,  365-66,  450;  in- 
terpreter of  idealism,  27;  Laws  of, 
2i(n.i);  Phaedo  of,  64,  385,  398; 
Phaedrus  of,  64,  385,  398;  Republic 
of,  2i(n.i),  63;  Timaeus  of,  Cicero's 
translation  of,   379,  399. 

Plautus,   18,  325. 

Plebii,  9off. 

Pliny,  448;  Epis.,  if.,  79(n.2i);  N.  H. 
of,  8i(n.25),  99(n.35),  n6(n.83),  169 
(n.32),  i7o(n.34),  i97(n.23),  212 
(n.62),  380. 

Plutarch,  278,  344(^38);  Ant.  of,  270, 
3io(n.95>;  Brut,  of,  264(n.8i),  295 
(n.53f.),  3o8(n.87);  Caes.  of,  119 
(n.90),  igi(n.7f.),  i96(n. 22),  236 
(n.8),  239(n.i7),  244(^29);  Car.  of, 
i74(n.42);  Cat.  Min.  of,  iso(n.4o); 
Cic.  of,  18,  47,  49,  56,  156,  158 
(n.io),  i6i(n.2i),  i68(n.3o),  174 
(n.44),  177(^50,  52),  i79(n.58),  192 
(n.i2),  20i(n.3i),  210,  23o(n.io8), 
24if.,  25i(n.43f.),  265,  309(n.9if), 
3i3f.,  3i6ff.,  326(n.8),  339,  436;  Crass. 
of,  2i7(n.68);  Gr.,  C.  of,  inf.;  Gr., 
Tib.  of,  no(n.6ii.);  Pomp,  of,  219 
(n.74f.),  i89(n.3),  ig7(n.23);  Sto. 
Rep.  of,  30;  Sulla  of,  n8(n.89). 

Polemo,   53,   58. 

Pollio,    307. 

Political  science,  Roman:  relation  of 
Cicero  to,  446. 

Pollock  and  Maitland,  2i(n.i). 

Pollock,  Frederick,   16,  24(^5). 

Polybius:  interest  of,  in  Roman  great- 
ness, 24;  relation  of,  to  great  Stoics, 
37- 

Pompeia,  wife  of  Caesar.     See   Caesar. 

Pompeius,  Cnaeus  (the  Great):  69,  133, 
157,  272,  332,  404^,  421,  434,  454; 
Caesar,  relations  of,  with,  197,  258, 
274;  Cato,  alliance  with,  219;  Cicero, 
relation  to,  i88ff.,  222f.,  230ft.,  436; 
consulship  of,  150ft".,  217ft.;  dictator- 
ship of,  i88ff.,  219;  leadership  of,  in 
Mithridatic  war,  i6iff.,  173,  i8gf.; 
military  career  of,  i88f. ;  oratorship 
of,  in  Cicero's  youth,  84;  proconsul- 
ship  of,  in  Cilicia.  220;  Palestine,  in- 
vasion of,  by,    i89f. ;   ruler  of   Roman 


INDEX 


613 


world,  149,  191,  i96f.;  sons  of,  255; 
statue  of,  260;  Sulla,  alliance  with, 
118;  supreme  command  of,  in  Mediter- 
ranean, 160,  168;  Pompey:  type  of 
military  chieftainship,  431;  Pompeius, 
Cn.  (son  of  the  Great),  255.  See  also 
Pompeius,  Cn.,  s.  v.  sons  of. 

Pompeius,  Quintus,  84,  344. 

Pompeius,  Sextus,  83,  231,  255,  301,  308, 
317,  322.  See  also  Pompeius,  Cn.,  s.  v. 
sons  of. 

Pompeius  Strabo,  Cn.,  83. 

Pompeius   (tribune).    See  Milo. 

Pomponia,  sister  of  Atticus,  417,  425. 

Pomponius,  Cn.,  84,  295 (n. 51),  378. 

Pomponius,  Sextus,  86,  98(11.34).  See 
also   Digest. 

Portia,  wife  of  Brutus.    See  Brutus. 

Posidonius,  56,  60,  69,  373f. 

Post-Aristotelian  philosophy,  mingling  of 
Greek  and  Oriental  modes  of  thought 
in,  29. 

Post  Reditum  in  Senatu,  selections  from, 
569- 

Praetor  peregrinus,  25,   41,    103. 

Praetor  urbanus,  24,  103. 

Praxiteles.    See  Verres. 

Pro   Archia,    133,    145(^35!!.). 

Pro  Archia,   selections   from,    570-574. 

Pro  Caecina,  39,  77(n.i6),  119(11.91), 
132. 

Pro  Caecina,  selections  from,   574. 

Pro   Cael.,    199(^27). 

Pro  Caelio,  selections  from,  575-576. 

Pro  Cluentio,  76(n.i4),  132,  155 (n. 2), 
210. 

Pro  Cluentio,  selections  from,   576,   577. 

Pro  Cornel.  (Balbo),  i2o(n.9s),  132, 
164. 

Pro  Cornelio  Balbo,  selections  from,  577, 
578. 

Pro  Domo  Sua,  99(^36),  ni(n.68),  112 
(n.70),  ii5(n.82),  ii9(n.9i),  133,  155 
(n.3),  202(n.35),  2i2(n.62f.). 

Pro  Domo  Sua,  selections  from,  578. 

Pro  Flacco,  133,  189(^4). 

Pro  Flacco,  selections  from,  578. 

Pro   Fonteio,   132. 

Pro  Lege  Manilla,  i6if. 

Pro  Lege  Manilla,  selections  from,  579. 
580. 

Pro  Ligario,    134,   250ft. 

Pro  Ligario,  selections  from,  580,  581. 

Pro    Marcello,    218,    247ft. 

Pro  Marcello,  selections  from,  581. 

Pro    Milone,    134,    146,    i52(n.33ff.), 

Pro  Milone,  selections  from,   581-583. 

Pro  Murena,  96(^29),   132,   175. 

Pro   Murena,   selections  from,   583,   584. 

Pro  Plancio.  17,  132,  I55(n.3),  203,  224. 

Pro  Plancio,  selections  from,  584-586. 

Pro  P.  Quinctio,  125,  131,  iss(n.2). 
See   also   Quinctius,   P. 

Pro   P.    Quinctio,    selections   from,    586. 

Pro  Rabirio,  65,   132. 

Pro  Rabirio  Postumo,  134. 

Pro  Rabirio,  selections  from,  576. 

Pro  Rab.  Perd.,  6,  ii2(n.7o),  172. 

Pro  Rege  Deiotaro,   134,  261. 

Pro  Rege  Deiotaro,  selections  from,  587. 

Pro  Roscio  Amerino.    See  Roscius,  S. 

Pro    Roscio    Amerino,    selections    from, 

587,  588. 

Pro  Roscio  Comoedo,  132. 

Pro    Roscio    Comoedo,    selections    from, 

588,  589. 


Pro  Sestio,  76  (n.  14),   133. 

Pro  Sestio,  selections  from,  589. 

Pro  Sext.,  208. 

Pro  Scauro,  175(^45). 

Pro  Sulla,   133,   i55(n.i),   i78(n.55f.). 

Pro  Sulla,  selections  from,  589. 

Pro  Tullio,  selections  from,   590. 

Pseudo-Asconius      See   Asconius. 

Ptolemy  Auletes,  198L  Sec  also  Pro 
Rab.  Post. 

Ptolemy,  gymnasium  of,  57. 

Publilia,  wife  of  Cicero.  See  Cicero, 
second  marriage  of. 

Pusey,  E.  B.  (translator  of  St.  Au- 
gustine),  1  in. 

Pyrrho,   386. 

Pythagoras,   392f. 

Q 

Quarterly  Review,  249. 
Quattuorvirate.    See  Cicero. 
Questio    de    Repetundis,    ii2(n.69). 
Quinctius,  Publius,   Cicero's  defense  of, 

I23f. 

Quintilian,  i7f.,  8off.,  332,  344(^38), 
449f.  Inst,  of,  51  (n. 2),  77(n.i6),  78 
(n.2of.),  3391.,  426,  450. 

R 

Rabirius,  defense  of,  i7if.  See  Pro 
Rabirio  Perd. 

Ramage,  20. 

Ranke,  L.  von,  455. 

Rebilus,    Caninius,    340. 

Regulus,  374,  377;  plea  for  son  of,  ex- 
ample of  early  dissemination  of  docu- 
ments,  2. 

Reid,  J.  S.,  55(n.22),  s8(n.3o). 

Renan,    Ernest,    44f. 

Rein,   i28(n.9). 

Rendall,  G.  H.,  38. 

Republic,  Roman.     See  Cicero;  Rome. 

Rhetorica  ad  Herennium,  selections 
from,  590. 

Ritschl,  455. 

Robespierre,  Cicero  compared  to.  See 
Cicero,  s.  v.  literary  detainers  of. 

Roby,  H.  J.,  72 (n.5). 

Roman  Journal.  See  Rome,  s.  v.  publi- 
cation  of   news   in. 

Rome:  calendar  of,  reformation  of,  239; 
colonizations  of,  112,  122,  168,  239; 
culture  of,  relation  of  Cicero  to,  445, 
449;  democracy  in,  struggle  for,  iogff. ; 
dictatorship,  law  of,  in,  118;  eques- 
trian order  of,  122;  imperial  expan- 
sion of,  197;  institutions,  ancient,  of, 
368f. ;  kingship  of,  89ft. ;  land  ques- 
tion in,  107ft.,  214;  publication  of 
news  in,  246,  408ft. ; 

—  republic  of,  downfall  of,  189,  255, 
307;  last  defense  of,  438f. ;  period  of, 
911.;  slavery  in,  107,  420;  temples  of, 
scenes  of  historic  incidents,  75,  152, 
170,  271,  276,  294;  tribes,  early,  of, 
88f.,   92,    104; 

—  city  of:  as  city,  state,  88f.,  106;  in 
transition  period,  430;  under  Caesar, 
237;  ,  . 

—  civil  organization  of:  evolution  to- 
ward imperialism,  235ft.,  237??.,  268f., 
370,  434;  judicial  procedure  under, 
i25ff. ;  provinces  in,  163;  under  the 
Caesars,    262,    283f. ; 

—  constitution  of:  aedileship  under, 
ioif. ;    censorship    under,    io3f.,    237; 


614 


INDEX 


Comitia,  under,  237L ;  completion  of, 
io6(n.58);  consulship  under,  99ft., 
121ft.,  159;  development  of,  S^fF. ;  dis- 
regard of,  by  Cic,  in  crushing  con- 
spiracy of  Catiline,  439f. ;  during  tran- 
sition to  imperialism,  io8ff.,  123$. ;  his- 
tory of,  in  De  Republica,  356ff. ;  inade- 
quacy of,  for  government  of  imperial 
Rome,  235ft. ;  municipalization  of,  by 
Caesar,  236ff. ;  overthrow  of,  by  im- 
perial system,  268f.,  431;  quaestorship 
under,  96ff.,  121  ff. ;  senate  under,  333; 
struggle  of  classes  for,  100;  tribune- 
ship,  ioiff.,  iaoff.,  365(^24);  veto 
power  under,  105,  121; 

—  freedmen  of,  279;  enfranchisement  of, 
116ft. ;  disintegration  of,  as  class,  io8f. ; 

—  history  of:  beginnings  of,  4iof.;  in 
letters  of  Cicero,   19,  4i2f.,  415,  445f; 

—  law  of:  Cicero's  treatise  on,  335ft., 
369;  civil,  96ff. ;  codification  of,  7 iff., 
29S (n.51);  com.  on  distribution  of, 
112,  122,  200,  212,  268;  criminal, 
95ft.,  122,  i28f.,  239;  divorce,  on,  319; 
history  of  in  De  Republica,  360;  mu- 
nicipal, 23sf. ;  place  of,  in  modern 
civilization,  22;  pontificial  regulations 
of,  73,  121,  172;  reform  of,  Marian, 
114$.;  reform  of,  Servian,  9iff.,  97ff. ; 
Twelve  Tables  of,  24,  71  f.,  74,  102, 
365; 

— literature  of:  324L ;  service  of  Cicero 
to,  446; 

—  military  organization  of,  268,  282f. ; 
basis  of  control  of  leaders,  188,  437f. ; 
chieftainship  of,  evolution  of,  431  ;  im- 
perial system  organized  on  basis  of, 
285,  306;  land,  holding  of,  under, 
341;  reform  of,  Servian,  93f. ; 

—  senate  of,  237f.,  343;  senate,  courts 
of,  reformation  of,  by  lex  Aurelia,  145; 
functions  of  89ft.,  io6ff.,  120,  162;  last 
free  assembly  of,  300;  publication  of 
reports  of  sittings  of,  409ft.  See  also 
language,  Latin;  literature,  Latin; 
Stoicism;  under  names  of  laws. 

Roscius,     Quintus     (Comoedus),     131ft., 

170. 
Roscius,     Sextus,    Cicero's    defense    of, 

I2off. 

Roscius,     Titus     Capito.      See     Roscius, 

Sextus. 
Rousseau,  on  "natural  man,"  371. 
Rufinus,    10. 

Rufus,  Caelius.     See  Caelius. 
Rufus,  P.  Sulpicius,  40,  84f.,  2S3f.,  323, 

334- 
Rufus,    Rutilius,   69,   72,    122. 
Rullus    (tribune),   lex  Agraria  of,    i68f., 

171. 
Rubicon,    crossing   of   the.      See   Caesar, 

Julius;  Octavius  Caesar. 
Ruskin,    15. 

S 

Sabinus,   340. 

Sacerdos,    1 64. 

Saglio  and  Daremberg,  246(^3/.),  408 
(n.2). 

Sainte-Beuve,    409. 

St.   Requier,  library  of,  448. 

Sallust:  Cat.  of,  i77(n.5off.),  179(^58), 
i8i(n.6off.),  448;  Bellum  Jugurthi- 
num,    43(n.S4),    ii4(n.8o),    320,    448. 

Sallust   (tribune).     See  Milo. 

Sanio,  74,  295  (n.51). 


Sassia.     See  Pro  Cluentio,  132. 

Saturninus,  272. 

Saylor,  Charles  Henry,  49. 

Scaevola,    Quintus    Mucius    (the   elder), 

_  38,  74.  85,.333f-,  395ff. 

Scaevola,  Quintus  Mucius  (the  younger), 
38,   7off.,   72ff.,   74,   85ft.,   117,  337. 

Scato,  Pub.  Vet.,  83. 

Scaurus,  46(n.i),    157. 

Schmeckel,  A.,  35(11.29),  38(^39),  69 
(n.52). 

Schmidt,  O.  E.,  134(^14),  222(^84), 
234(11.3),  43(11.25),  26o(n.7i),  304 
(n.75),  455. 

Schneidewin,  Max,  455. 

Schwegler,  99(n.35). 

Science,  conception  of,  in  ancient  world, 
371;  political,  conception  of,  in  Greek 
philosophy,  371.  See  also  Cicero,  s.  v. 
precepts  of,  on  moral  law. 

Science  of  Jurisprudence,  22 (n.2),  42 
(n.51),  71,  77(n.i5),  94f.(n.24),  12b 
(n.4),   238(n.i3),  337,   371. 

Scipio  Africanus,  37,  58,  354,  356,  359ft. 

Scipio,  Publius  Aemilianus  (Africanus 
the  younger),  360ft.,  391,  395^ 

Scipio,  Qu.  Met.,  149,  281.  See  also 
Verres. 

"Scipio's  Dream."    See  Som.  Scip. 

Sellar,  325  (n.7). 

Sempronia,   181. 

Seneca:  classed  as  later  Stoic,  33(n.22); 
Cons,  ad  Helv.  of,  259;  De  Provid.  of, 
2°3»  435;  Dial,  of,  3i(n.i7),  35;  Epist., 
31(11.171.  424- 

Serranus   (tribune),  207. 

Sertorius,   189,  272. 

Servilia,  mother  of  Brutus.  See  Brutus, 
Marcus. 

Servilius,  Pub.,  291,  2g8(n.6i). 

Servius,  427.  See  also  Sulpicius,  Ser- 
vius. 

Sestius.    See  In  Vatinum;  Pro  Sestio. 

Sestorius,  189. 

Severus,  Septimius,  32. 

Sextius,  Caius,  339L 

Sextius,  Publius,  342L 

Sheridan.  See  Cic,  s.  v.  orations  of,  in- 
fluence of  on   public  opinion;   Verres. 

Shorthand,  ancient.  See  Cicero,  secre- 
tary of. 

Sicily.     See  Verres. 

Sicinius,  Cn.,  346. 

Sihler,  E.  G.,  5,  16,  so(n.n),  55(n. 22), 
58(11.31).  62,  136(^19),  i4s(n.3if.), 
I70(n.35),  184,  205,  215(^65),  225 
(n.92),  23o(n.io7),  241  (n. 22),  245,  263 
(n.79),  323(n.5),  327.  365(11.24),  382, 
401,  406,   45i(n.2o)ff. 

Silanus,   174ft.,   183^,   186. 

Smith,  Clement  Lawrence,  9o(n.i2),  138, 
296(n.54),  328,  402(^36),  415. 

Socrates,  27,  31,  52,  399;  influence  of, 
on  work  of  Cicero,  328,  393;  death  of, 
Cicero's  death  compared  to,  441.  See 
3i5- 

Sohm,  isf.,  86,  97(n.3if.),  103. 

Sosigenes,   239. 

Solon,  393. 

Som.  Scip.,  3,  63L,  65L,  355,  373,  385. 
See  also  Scipio. 

"Somnium    Scipionis,"    selections    from, 

„  537-539-      „ 

Spain.     See  Caesar,  j.  v.  conquests  of. 

Spartacus,  insurrection  of,  189. 

Speusippus,  58. 


INDEX 


6i5 


Spintharus,  379,  423. 

Statius,  freedman  of  Qu.  Cic,  425. 

"Stoic  marriages,"  395. 

Stoicism:  advance  of,  in  centuries  be- 
tween Plato  and  Cicero,  64ff. ;  basis  of 
ethics  of,  34;  founder  of,  2gff. ;  "phi- 
losophy of  the  poor,"  39;  tribute  of 
Renan  to,   44f. ;   Semitic  spirit  in,  29; 

—  ethical  system  of,  388;  Cicero,  influ- 
ence on,  of,  sff.,  19,  32ff.,  5sfL,  366f., 
371,  380-88,  395.  398ff.,  403ff.,  443; 
Christianity,  influence  on,  of,  sff.;  Ro- 
man law,  influence  on,  of,  13,  26,  43f. ; 

— '  Roman,  36ff. ;  Cicero's  relation  to, 
443f-.  395"-  See  also  Academy;  un- 
der names  of  Stoic  writers. 

Strabo,  33(11.36),  322. 

Strabo,   C.   Julius  Caesar,   333f.,  337. 

Suetonius,  40,  237Cn.11),  239  (n.  15- 
17),  246;  Aug.  of,  8i(n.2s);  Caesar 
of,  171(^37),  i99(n.26),  263(^78), 
26s(n.83),  270,  273(n.8)f.,  4o8(n.2)f.; 
De  Clar.  Rhetor,  of,  so(n.n);  De  II- 
lustribus  Grammaticis,  8i(n.26). 

Sulla,  Faustus,  342. 

Sulla,  L.,  56,  85,  114,  272,  332,  416;  ab- 
dication of,  123;  Cicero's  defense  of, 
2;  constitutional  legislation  of,  96; 
defeat  of  Marian  party  by,  188,  432; 
dictatorship  of,  86ff.,  n8ff.,  235;  fore- 
runner of  great  political  transition  of 
Rome,  431;  leader  of  senatorial  party, 
117;  proscriptions  of,  118,  169;  statue 
of,  260.     See  also  Marius,  Roscius,  S. 

Sulla,  Publius,  loan  of,  to  Cic,  158,  195. 

Sulpicius,  345,  416. 

Sulpicius  Rufus.    See  under  Rufus. 

Sulpicius,  Servius,  74(n.io),  I74f.,  29if., 
294.    See  also  Servius. 

Sunden,  121  (n. 97). 

Suringar,   I4i(n.2j3). 

Symonds,  449. 


Tacitus,  139;  Ann.  of,  99(n.3$),  112 
(n.69),  i2i(n.ioi),  i28f.(n.5),  209, 
246(n.35),  270;  Dial,  of,  45o(n.i8); 
Hist,  of,  190. 

Taine,   15. 

Tarentino,   177(^54). 

Tarpeian  Rock,  279. 

Tempest,  The,  305?. 

Terrence,  326,  446. 

Terentia,  wife  of  Cicero.  See  Cicero, 
s.  v.  wife  of. 

Tertia,  420. 

Tertulla,  277. 

Tertullian,  creator  of  Christian  Latin 
literature,  9. 

Teukris.     See  Antonius.       See  Text. 

Thales,  399. 

Thapsus,  battle  of,  233L 

Theophrastus,  21  (n.  1),  53,  328,  366. 

Thompson,  Sir  Edward  Maunde,  423. 

Thrasybulus,  272. 

Tiberius,   94(n.24),  42o(n.24). 

Tiro,  secretary  of  Cicero,  17,  159,  315 
(n.105),  363(n.22),  379,  420-27;  biog- 
raphy of  Cicero  by,  427;  collection  of 
works  of  Cicero  by,  427.  See  also  Ad 
Fam. 

Topica  ad  C.  Trebatium,  3S2f.,  407(^46). 

Torquatus,  Lucius,  381. 

Trebatius,  219,  352f. 

Trebonius,  17,  258,  264,  274,  296ff. 


Tribunicia  potestas,  23  5L 

Triumvirate,    second,     198,    215,    3ogff., 

440;   in   letters  of   Cicero,   4i4f.     See 

also  Antonius;  Lepidus;  Octavius. 
Tubero.     See  Pro  Ligario. 
Tullia,  daughter  of  Cicero.     See  Cicero, 

j.  y.  daughter  of. 
Tullius,  Attius,  47. 
Tullius,  Manius,  47. 
Tullus,  Servius,  9 if.,  97. 
Tusculanae  Disputationes,  4,   14,  40,  60, 

64ff.,  69,  384-88,  429,  444. 
Tusculanae       Disputationes,       selections 

from,  590-603. 
Tyrranio,  159. 
Tyrrell,     2,    226(n.93),     227(^96),    247 

(n.37),  423(11.33).  455- 

U 

Ueberweg,  52. 

Ulpian,  44.    See  also  Digest. 

Ulysses,  364. 

V 
Vaglieri,   273. 
Valerius  Maximus,  8i(n.25),  i6i(n.2i), 

i92(n.n). 
Varius,  Qu.,  84,  345. 
Varro,   53,  287,  354,  378f.;  L.  L.  of,  90 

(n.12),    ioi(n.4i);    Re    Rust,    of,    81 

(n.25). 
Vatinius,  199,  296,  34of. 
Velleius  Paterculus,  8i(n.26),  ii2(n.73), 

i2i(n.ioo),   i45(n.3i),   i8s(n.66),  201 

(n.30),  399. 
Ventidius,  299. 
Vercellae,  battle  of,  115. 
Verrines.     See  In  Verrem. 
Verres,  trial  of,  77(n.i6),  80,  132,  I36ff., 

15.6,  171,  339,  413.  436,  454-     See  also 

Cicero,    s.    v.    forensic    career    of;    In 

Verrem. 
Vestals,  custodians  of  wills,  270L 
Virgil:     Gcorgics  of,    429;    place   of,    in 

Latin  culture,  449. 
Voconius,  342. 
Voigt,  26(n.io). 
Vqlumnius,   245f.     See  also   Ad  Famil- 

iares. 

W 

Walter,   97f.(n.33). 

Wlassak,  98(^34). 

War:  Civil,  85,  283,  370,  431;  Italian 
(or  Social),  83ff.,  115,  321L,  431;  Ju- 
gurthine,  114;  Mithridatic,  ii7f., 
i6if.,  173,  189.  Numidian,  04;  Par- 
thian, 261,  265.  See  also  under  names 
of  military  leaders. 

X 

Xenophon,     272  (n.4);      Economics     of, 

translation  of,  by  Cicero,  427. 
Xenocles  of  Adramyttium,  68. 
Xenocrates,  58. 


Zeno,  382,  386f.,  401;  career  of,  29; 
Republic  of,  30;  Stoic  philosophy, 
founded  by,  29ff.,  372L  See  also 
Academica;  Stoicism. 

Zielinski,  455. 

Zoller,  99(n.35)- 

Zonaras,   i27(n.s),   i89(n.3), 

Zumpt,  97f-(n.33),  i28(n.io),  237(n.io). 


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